Levante announced Sunday that it has sacked Julian Calero as first team coach in the wake of Saturday's 2-0 defeat at home to Athletic Bilbao.

The defeat leaves Levante second from bottom of La Liga with just nine points from the first 14 matches of the season.

Levante confirmed Calero's sacking in a statement, expressing its gratitude to the coach for leading it to promotion back to La Liga from the second division last season.

He is the second coach to be sacked in La Liga this season after Veljko Paunovic was dismissed by Oviedo in October. Paunovic also lost his job after guiding Oviedo to promotion last season.

Levante B-team coach Alvaro del Moral and former player Vicente Iborra have been placed in temporary charge of the team, and will be in the dugout for Wednesday's Copa del Rey match away to lower division CD Cieza.