Back from the dead, Eibar performing La Liga miracles

MADRID, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Eibar have one of the cheapest squads in La Liga yet the tiny Basque club have outshone teams with vastly deeper pockets and ended the first half of the season in the European qualification places.

Sunday's 2-1 win against Espanyol at their 6,300-capacity Ipurua stadium lifted them above Athletic Bilbao, the traditional powerhouses of Basque soccer, and Europa League holders Sevilla into sixth after 19 matches.

A sixth-place finish would earn them a lucrative berth in Europe's second-tier club competition for next season.

Based in the eponymous industrial town of fewer than 30,000 inhabitants, Eibar had a similarly impressive first half of the campaign on their La Liga debut in 2014-15 but their form collapsed and they were relegated after finishing 18th.

However, Elche were thrown out of Spain's top flight over unpaid taxes and Eibar were reinstated, a fortunate turn of events they are making the most of.

They beat Bilbao, whose squad is worth 136 million euros ($148.47 million) to Eibar's 38 million according to website Transfermarkt.com, 2-0 on matchday two and went on to secure draws against Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal.

Their victory against Espanyol, thanks to goals from Takashi Inui and Borja Baston, was their third in a row, their longest winning streak in La Liga.

Coach Jose Luis Mendilibar, who is in his second stint at the club, this week played down their chances of European qualification and said maintaining their top-flight status was the priority.

Eibar were eighth on 27 points at the same stage in 2014-15 but were relegated on the final day, prompting the resignation of coach Gaizka Garitano, despite a 3-0 win at home to Cordoba.

"Last season the team had a brilliant first half to be in the fight for Europa League places and then what happened happened," he told a news conference.

"We are not thinking about records but collecting points so we can meet our objective which is to stay in La Liga," he added. "Once we have done that we can think about other things."