Girona, currently in second place, missed a valuable opportunity to narrow the gap with Real Madrid in La Liga, losing 3-2 to Athletic Bilbao on Monday.

The Catalan team could have closed the margin to just three points, but they were defeated by two goals from Alex Berenguer and one from Inaki Williams, leaving them six points behind Madrid.

This loss marks another setback for Girona, which had been matching Madrid's performance in the first half of La Liga. However, after going unbeaten for over three months, Girona has only managed to secure one point from their last nine matches.

Their recent poor form also included a 4-0 defeat to Madrid on Feb. 10.

Athletic Bilbao took the lead in the second minute when Alex Berenguer skillfully turned the home defense and scored with a left-footed shot from outside the box.

Viktor Tsygankov equalized four minutes into the second half for Girona, but Berenguer finished superbly seven minutes later to give Athletic the lead again.

Williams made it 3-1 when he took advantage of poor defending and scored with a low shot off the post.

Eric Garcia got the second for Girona with 15 minutes remaining when he stooped to head in a wicked cross from Aleix Garcia.

But although they pushed hard in the final minutes, the visitors could not equalize again.

The result opened up a nine-point gap between Athletic in fifth and Real Sociedad in sixth.

Athletic was only two points behind fourth-placed Atlético Madrid and an automatic spot in the Champions League.

"Of course, we're going to dream about the Champions League," Williams said. "We're taking it step by step, as we've been quietly saying. We're working and pushing ourselves to the max so that success makes the noise."