Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao Review
Barcelona continued their perfect start to the new La Liga season by defeating Athletic Bilbao 2-1 at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in their first home match of the 2024/25 season, extending their unbeaten streak to 23 consecutive home league games against the Basque team.
The early moments of the match presented a fascinating tactical contest, which limited the excitement for neutral fans, and it was not until the middle of the first half that either team managed to create a significant scoring opportunity. It took a moment of brilliance from Pedri to achieve this, as his beautifully lofted pass was acrobatically directed towards the goal by Raphinha, but his attempt was comfortably saved by Álex Padilla.
Athletic found themselves trailing shortly after, as a partially cleared free-kick landed perfectly for Lamine Yamal, whose curling shot deflected off Iñigo Lekue’s head and into the corner. By this time, Athletic’s goal was under significant pressure, and the Catalan giants should have been ahead by two goals ten minutes before halftime, when Robert Lewandowski created space for himself in the box and hit the post. His missed opportunity seemed costly just before halftime when Pau Cubarsí fouled Alejandro Berenguer in the penalty area. Oihan Sancet confidently converted the penalty, sending Marc-André ter Stegen the wrong way.
Lewandowski sealed the win for the home side with just 15 minutes left in the match. Padilla assisted him by deflecting Pedri’s cross perfectly into the path of Poland’s all-time leading scorer. There was no doubt about the result, as Lewandowski confidently struck the ball into the net with his left foot from 12 yards out. Ernesto Valverde would have wished for a better reaction from his team, but they struggled to find a second equalizer against the hosts. Consequently, Barça managed to secure the win without much trouble, maintaining their unbeaten streak in home La Liga openers since 2010. Meanwhile, Athletic is still searching for their first league victory of the season.
