La Liga: FC Barcelona 2-0 Athletic Bilbao: Match Review

A detailed, blow-by-blow recap of FC Barcelona's 2-0 La Liga win over Athletic Bilbao at the Camp Nou, as substitute Neymar secured the three points with a brace off the bench

FC Barcelona faced their toughest test of the season so far on Saturday afternoon at the Camp Nou as they squared off against Athletic Bilbao, and passed with flying colours, maintaining their 100% record with a 2-0 win over their Basque counterparts. Despite dominating proceedings, Barcelona had to wait until the final quarter of an hour to grab their goals, courtesy of some superb goalkeeping from Gorka Iraizoz and some bizarre decisions from the referee.

However, with the introduction of Neymar, Barça upped their game, moved through the gears and were ultimately too strong for Athletic, with the Brazilian grabbing a deserved brace to wrap up a comfortable victory.

	Barcelona	Athletic Bilbao
Possession	61%	39%
Total Shots	15	3
Shots on Target	8	2
Pass Accuracy	84%	73%
Corners	5	1
Fouls	12	11
Offsides	6	1
Yellow Cards	1	1
Red Cards	0	0

The surprise news of the day saw Dani Alves left out of the final squad for this afternoon’s match with a knee injury, and the surprises kept coming as Luis Enrique named his starting line-up. Gerard Piqué dropped to the bench with Javier Mascherano his replacement, as the World Cup runner-up returned to the defense after serving a suspension for his red card in the opening match against Elche CF.

In attack, there was no room for Neymar; instead it was La Masia starlet Munir El Haddadi who completed the frontline after making his international debut for Spain on Monday. Would Luis Enrique’s selection policy pay dividends? Could the Blaugrana extend their 100% record, or would Athletic Bilbao upset the odds in front of the Camp Nou crowd?

***

Athletic started the match on the front foot, immediately taking the game to the hosts who forced an early save from Claudio Bravo – his first of the season – courtesy of Benat’s snapshot. While it may not have been destined for the net, there was a Bilbao shirt lying in wait, ready to pounce and covert the rebound so Bravo’s fingertip save had to be picture perfect – and it was.

We all knew that Athletic would be tough opposition but this fast start caught everyone by surprise. Maybe the shock was on the cards after all? Well, it could have been, but to their credit Barça responded in kind. The shot from Benat was the catalyst, sparking the Barça machine to burst into life and before long, the Blaugrana had established control over the game.

Munir’s rise to fame has been meteoric, but richly-deserved. His talent is unquestionable and even with options like Neymar ready to step back in, Lucho keeps the faith in the young striker and he continues to repay that faith with good performances. Starting on the right-hand side of attack, Munir cut inside a marker after receiving a fine pass from Rakitić, and with some time and space to shape up for a shot, Munir let fly. It could have been spectacular, but he couldn’t quite keep it down, much to the relief of Gorka Iraizoz.

Moments later, Barcelona were at it again, working their way from the back through the Bilbao midfield without much in the way of opposition and courtesy of a good pass from Lionel Messi, to Martin Montoya on the by-line. Montoya had options and elected for the simple one – finding Pedro with a superb cut-back, only for Iraizoz to deny the Spanish winger, saving the chance with his feet.

It was breathtaking stuff from the hosts who were threatening to run riot after that early scare. All they needed was a goal to match their dominance.

The return of Andrés Iniesta was certainly making a mark on the Blaugrana midfield. The control of possession was never really absent against Villarreal, but the confidence on the ball and that cutting edge was – with Iniesta back pulling the strings, Barça were looking more dangerous, more likely to make something happen. The movement in attack was better as well; quite simply everything was looking up compared to that night at El Madrigal.

Perhaps at times Barcelona were a little too direct; they opted to try and play it long at times and the weighting of the passes were ever so slightly off, meaning that Athletic could often clear the danger without too much trouble. Still, even that was serving a purpose. The Athletic defense was dropping deeper to compensate and that was creating space between the lines for Messi, for Iniesta and for Rakitić.

Using that space to deadly effect, Messi spotted a run from Munir and found the young star with a jaw-dropping through ball. Closing down on goal, Munir was presented with a golden chance and lost his composure, lifting the ball well over the target.

All that before the 20 minute mark.

The action was coming thick and fast at the Camp Nou; it was impossible to take your eyes off the game such was the quality of the football on display.

At the other end, Barcelona were coping with any spells of Athletic pressure but there were nervy moments. Aritz Aduriz was always going to cause problems at the back, but isolated up against Javier Mascherano the Basque forward went to ground, insinuating that Mascherano had impeded him as he attempted to reach a cross. Replays suggested that he had a case, but the referee, David Fernandez Borbalan, ignored his protests and play continued.

A driving run from Ander Iturraspe had the defense at sixes and sevens, but his finish was lacking in power and Bravo comfortably made the save. Still, it was Athletic’s best spell of the match – how would Barcelona respond?

Following a break in the action after dangerous play from Aduriz, Barça regained control of proceedings and started to carve out chances once again. Ivan Rakitić’s cross found the somewhat subdued Lionel Messi in space for a header but the Argentine’s effort went well wide of the mark. Instead, it was Pedro and Munir who were providing the spark in attack, not Messi as one would have expected. Certainly, this was Pedro’s best performance of the season and Munir was looking great too – nearly earning a penalty as Carlos Gurpegi shoved the youngster in the small of his back.

It was clear-cut, obvious stuff but Borbalan again turned a blind eye.

We were closing in on half-time and still the tempo quickened. The atmosphere was electric and Barça started to force the issue. Athletic were getting later in their challenges, further away from the runs and at that rate, it wouldn’t be long before Barcelona took the lead. Could they hang on until half-time?

They could, and they had Iriazoz to thank – as he kept Rakitić’s terrific effort at bay before denying Munir at point-blank range after a sublime low cross from Messi. It was super-human, Javi Varas-esque stuff from the Basque shot-stopper. Barça were frustrated, but had 45 minutes left to find a way through.

***

After taking a blow to the head in the first-half, Javier Mascherano was withdrawn at the half with Gerard Piqué his more than capable replacement. That limited Lucho’s options for later on in the period, if more changes were required, as they were against Villarreal, but it was a necessary change to make; we would see if it made any impact to what had been a solid display from the Barça backline.

Back to the action and this time it was Barça who started well; Ivan Rakitić, as per usual, picking out passes that a mere mortal wouldn’t see in a month of Sundays, including one towards Munir that Balenziaga somewhat fortuitously dealt with. At the other end, Piqué was looking good as well, flushing out any danger in its infancy and those interventions were helping to spring a counter-attack or two, including one that could have given Barça the lead.

Bursting forward after Piqué robbed Aduriz, Barça found space down the left following a quick free-kick and a square ball from Pedro found Munir unmarked at the back-post for a tap-in, only for the assistant referee to raise his flag for offside. Replays suggested that the referee was probably wrong to err on the side of caution and give the benefit of the doubt to the Athletic defense, but we would have to make sure that didn’t matter come full-time.

Minutes later, Lionel Messi’s pass found Alba on the overlap and the Catalan full-back cut inside one challenge to open up space for a shot but again, Iraizoz was equal to the effort, slapping it away for a corner. All good signs, but let’s make one thing clear – we were near the hour mark and still, Lionel Messi hadn’t had a meaningful shot on goal.

My solution? Bring on Neymar. The sooner the better. Munir was playing well – and tested Iraizoz again with headed effort – so I would have removed Pedro, but Lucho disagreed and withdrew Munir. Still, Neymar was on; it was time to raise the bar and secure those three points.

The introduction of the Brazilian certainly spiced things up a bit; Messi was looking better and Neymar was looking tremendous, dancing round a whole host of challenges before being brutally chopped down just outside the area. At least, that’s what everyone else saw – the referee again turned a blind eye and the crowd were furious. Neymar responded with a similar piece of magic moments later, but his accuracy was off as he tried to curl a shot into the far corner.

Twenty minutes and change left to go; Barça were ramping it up. A pass from Messi found Iniesta in space and Iniesta square it to Neymar. Perhaps there was a little too much on the pass but Neymar recovered and cut it back towards Messi, who was robbed of the chance by a brilliant intervention from Gurpegi. Except, it wasn’t according to the referee and a goal kick was the call. Whatever; it was just a matter of time anyway, wasn’t it?

Another chance and last-ditch challenge followed as Rakitić’s pass was cut out by Gurpegi, Athletic were on the ropes. Barça were going for the knockout blow; Iniesta was the next to weave himself past a few challenges and work the ball to Neymar in the area, but the Brazilian’s shot struck Messi on the back and offside was the call. Nothing was going our way; would Athletic survive this spell of intense pressure to steal a point?

So many similarities with the match against Villarreal...and Lucho was going to add one more – Sandro was readied and brought on for the final quarter of an hour, replacing Pedro as Barça threw caution to the wind in their quest for a winner.

Then Neymar happened.

Busquets stole possession in the centre and fed Lionel Messi. The Athletic defense had been caught out; they weren’t in position and Neymar took advantage with a superb run latching onto the end of Messi’s pass to close in on goal. Munir did it earlier, and couldn’t keep his composure – but Neymar is a superstar, he kept his cool and clipped the ball past Iraizoz and into the bottom corner. A deserved goal for the Blaugrana, it might have taken longer than planned, but Barça were finally ahead.

Minutes later, another breakaway saw Neymar with the opportunity to feed Sandro for a tap-in, but iraizoz read the danger well to intervene. Athletic were beaten and Neymar was running riot.

Lionel Messi was the provider, once again, picking the ball up deep before driving to the by-line where he played a low cross to Neymar, who took a touch, settled himself and picked his place, passing the ball into the bottom corner for his second of the evening.

A quickfire double from Neymar, and Barça were now coasting to victory. The streak rolls on, and before the day is over, the lead over Real Madrid and/or Atletico Madrid will be extended. All is rosy in Catalunya for FC Barcelona.

***

Next up, APOEL Nicosia visit the Camp Nou on Wednesday as the Cypriots try to avoid a mauling at the Camp Nou in their season UEFA Champions League group stage debut. Until then, Visca el Barça!

Roll Call Info
Total comments	459
Total commenters	40
Commenter list	ALongTimeLurker, Anders Thomassen, AristoBarca, BarcaLifer, Barcacatalunya, BartraFTW, BoodHernandez, Bostjan Cernensek, El_Illusionista, FCB4Ever, Giancarlo8, Harshiv, Jake07, KiwiBarca, LA495, LaSenyera, Lapulga, Maaz Rehman, NoImagination90, Ricardo Blonde, Silverscoper, SlightlyInsaneCule, Steven Cordero, Uncharted_Almo, Waje.y, Willis1984, ade fox, craig00000, ebieymjunior, footballfordoze, footblob, ikool, jackpiratecaptain, kenyanbarcafan, nolet, shubham2806, smb26, syredeathtrooper, tilak, whoaitsdwardy
Story URLs	http://ift.tt/WXJKSg

#	Commenter	# Comments
1	Barcacatalunya	103
2	SlightlyInsaneCule	39
3	Bostjan Cernensek	37
4	BoodHernandez	36
5	El_Illusionista	34
6	Silverscoper	27
7	Uncharted_Almo	21
8	shubham2806	21
9	Willis1984	20
10	AristoBarca	14
11	syredeathtrooper	13
12	FCB4Ever	12
13	Anders Thomassen	11
14	KiwiBarca	9
15	NoImagination90	8
16	Steven Cordero	8
17	LA495	5
18	nolet	4
19	footblob	4
20	kenyanbarcafan	4
21	ade fox	3
22	Harshiv	3
23	jackpiratecaptain	2
24	Giancarlo8	2
25	footballfordoze	2
26	Lapulga	2
27	Maaz Rehman	2
28	ebieymjunior	1
29	Jake07	1
30	smb26	1
31	Ricardo Blonde	1
32	ikool	1
33	craig00000	1
34	LaSenyera	1
35	tilak	1
36	whoaitsdwardy	1
37	Waje.y	1
38	ALongTimeLurker	1
39	BartraFTW	1
40	BarcaLifer	1

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