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    Sunday, August 28, 2016

    Rakitic goal enough for 1-0 Barcelona win in Bilbao










    An Ivan Rakitic goal was enough to give Barcelona a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday evening at San Mamés in Bilbao.

    The Croatian thumped in a 21st minute header off an Arda Turan pass in what turned out to be the game's lone score. The win gives Barcelona a perfect two wins in two matches to start the 2016-17 La Liga season.

    Athletic have a habit of making things very difficult for Barcelona anytime the Catalonians visit San Mamés, and Sunday was no different. Athletic were energetic, physical and up for a fight, as is always the case when one of Spain's "Big Two" pay a visit to the Basque club.

    However, Barcelona were up for a scrap, and even though they did not enjoy their usual lopsided advantage in possession, they showed their mettle during the 90 minutes. In particular, the Barcelona counterattack, a rare method used by Luis Enrique's side, was quite effective.


    Outside of Marc-André ter Stegen replacing the departed Claudio Bravo in goal, Barcelona were unchanged from last week's 6-2 romp over Betis.












    Perhaps with the ghosts of last season's humiliating 4-0 Spanish Super Cup first leg defeat in Bilbao still swirling in his head, Ter Stegen had a shaky start and nearly gifted the home side an early goal. The German goalkeeper carelessly played a ball right to Beñat, but redeemed himself by making the save from point blank range to keep things scoreless.

    Yet for all their early momentum, Athletic were reminded of the attacking pedigree that Barcelona possess, which saw the reigning league champions open the scoring. A beautiful sequence of passing from Barcelona ended with Arda Turan picking out Rakitic with a cross that the Croatia international headed in to make it 1-0 to the visitors.

    Athletic stayed true to the strategy of trying to pressure Barcelona in their own end, but when Luis Enrique's men were able to clear the first line of Athletic players, it left plenty of room for them to operate. One such chance came right before half-time when Messi filtered a ball through to Turan, who shot wide at the near post.

    The chances kept coming for Barcelona, with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez each firing just wide in the opening stages of the second half. But Barcelona's wasteful finishing
    opened the door for Athletic, and a Raúl García effort that skimmed the outside of the post nearly sent San Mamés into delirium. Minutes later Iñaki Williams was presented with a chance but could only muster a weak shot that Ter Stegen easily saved.

    Barcelona took back control of the match by calming down the pace of play and using their possession-based football to frustrate an increasingly impatient Athletic. Still, the final minutes were nervy for Barcelona fans, with Beñat sending just wide a free kick and Iker Muniain shouting for a late penalty on Rakitic. Suárez capped a frustrating day by inexplicably failing to score with just a defender to beat in goal after Messi had served the Uruguayan up with a pass on a silver platter.

    In the end though, Barcelona did just enough to see out the match and collect a hard-earned three points.


    Barcelona will be back in action following the international break on September 10th to take on newly-promoted Alaves at the Camp Nou.



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