Athletic Club were all over their relegation-threatened visitors from the off. With a boisterous home crowd behind them, the hosts came forward in waves and it took Sancet just 10 minutes to capitalise on the pressure.
The midfielder’s shot from the edge of the box appeared to take a slight deflection before rippling the net, giving Bilbao a deserved early lead.
The home side were knocked down off their perch a short time later, however, as Gonzalo Escalante stabbed home from close range to equalise.
While it looked like the half would peter out in a stalemate, Sancet slotted home his second on the night after getting on the end of a deflected pass to reclaim the home side’s lead in the final 10 minutes of the half.
Astonishingly, they doubled their lead just before the HT whistle when Yeray Alvarez headed in an Iker Muniain free-kick with aplomb, capping off a dominant opening period of play.
The game was at risk of being flipped on its head in the opening 15 minutes of the second half when Yuri Berchiche received his second yellow card of the night, leaving Athletic Club to see out the final half-hour with 10 men.
Luckily for Bilbao, their numerical inferiority would not come back to bite them, as Sancet wrapped up his hat-trick in the final 15 minutes after being played in behind the Cadiz defence, putting the game on ice.
After two wins in their last four games, Cadiz will be disappointed to suffer a thumping defeat and have their momentum broken.
They will head into the weekend stuck in the relegation zone following their poor start to the campaign in 2022.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Oihan Sancet (Athletic Bilbao)
