Barcelona celebrated Catalan National Day with a victory over Athletic Club behind two late goals from Neymar. Athletic Club were superb defensively for the most of the match, but as usually happens with the Blaugrana, it only takes a second for them to exploit an opening and make you pay. Neymar did just than ten minutes from time, sending the fans home happy and giving his team nine points from three matches.
Barcelona vs. Athletic Club: Final score 2-0, Neymar grabs 3 points for Barca
Neymar’s two late goals off the bench continued Barcelona’s perfect start to the season.
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Both teams had chances in the highly energetic opening minutes of the match. Athletic Club tested Claudio Bravo in the 2nd minute when Beñat's shot from a tough angle forced the Barca goalkeeper to punch the ball away as it tried to curl inside the far post. Barca responded with a pass-filled break that concluded with Martin Montoya centering the ball to Pedro. The winger's shot was right at Gorka Iraizoz, who made the save.
Munir had a glorious chance to put Barca ahead in the 19th minute when Lionel Messi found Munir making a run through the middle and lifted a sublime pass over the defense into his path. The youngster brought the ball down and cut inside of a defender, but his shot was poor as he skied the ball well over the Athletic Club goal.
The 19-year-old did put the ball in the back of the net in the 50th minute, but he started his run a moment too soon and was called offside on the initial pass across the Athletic Club box. Two minutes later Iraizoz denied Jordi Alba’s attempt, palming the ball away for a corner.
The onslaught of pressure from the Blaugrana continued as the second half rolled on but Athletic Club were up to the task, defending well and taking advantage of some very questionable decisions from the match officials. The lead referee missed a clear penalty for Barca in the first half and ignored an obvious foul on Neymar in the second half that should’ve been a free kick.
Athletic Club had a penalty shot of their own in the 77th minute when Gerard Piqué crashed into Iker Muniain, but the referee was not interested in making the call.
Finally in the 79th minute Barcelona broke through and took the lead 1-0. Sergio Busquets started the break, poking a ball forward to Lionel Messi who wasted little time moving it out wide to Neymar, The Brazilian striker was all alone in space, but waited a few seconds, forcing Iraizoz to make a decision. The keeper did his best to reduce Neymar's angle, but once he went down, the Barca striker sent a slow roller wide of him and inside the far post.
Messi again set up Neymar in the 84th minute, making a great run from the left into the Athletic Club box before centering the ball to the Brazilian for a close range finish to secure the points.
Barcelona: Bravo, Alba, Mascherano (Piqué 46’), Mathieu, Montoya, Busquets, Rakitić, Iniesta, Munir (Neymar 63’), Messi, Pedro (Sandro 78’)
Goals: Neymar (79’, 84’)
Athletic Club: Iraizoz, Balenziaga, Laporte, Gurpegui, De Marcos, Rico (Viguera 83’), Itsurrape, Muniain, Beñat, Susaeta (Gomez 63’), Aduriz
Goals: None
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