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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