Athletic Club 0-1 Barcelona: Yamal scores winner to seal hard-fought 3 points

Barcelona have responded to Real Madrid’s victory at Celta Vigo on Friday with a gritty win of their own at San Mames, with Athletic Club having been narrowly defeated on their turf by the La Liga leaders.

Match Report

With one eye on Tuesday’s match against Newcastle United in the Champions League, Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick made the decision to drop Pedri, Fermin Lopez and Raphinha to the bench. Understandably, this led to a drop-off in performance, with the Catalans unable to make a decisive impact in the first half.

Ferran Torres came closest to scoring for the visitors after his flicked effort went wide of the far post, while at the other end, Joao Cancelo almost scored an own goal after his attempted clearance struck the crossbar of Joan Garcia, who made a crucial intervention to deny Selton Sanchez in a 1-on-1 situation.

The introduction at Pedri gave Barcelona a boost for the second half, and it turned out to be a decisive one. The midfielder did well to move away from a challenge in the centre of the park before slipping in Lamine Yamal, who cut inside before firing the ball into the back of the Athletic net via the far post.

The hosts had done very well to nullify Lamine Yamal up until that moment, but once again, the 18-year-old showed his class with an excellent finish. After that, Athletic upped things in their search for an equaliser, but they were repelled by the excellent Garcia in the Barcelona goal, as he made three saves across the 90 minutes to ensure another clean sheet.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

1' CLOSE! Cancelo almost puts the ball into the back of his own goal

6' A cross from Yamal is cut back by Ferran and it almost goes in after rebounding

11' Unai Gomez cannot continue as Robert Navarro comes on to take his place

20' Jauregizar lets fly from distance but Joan Garcia watches it sail over his goal

24' Boiro and Eric Garcia both slide in for the ball and clatter into each other

34' Match Event for Athletic Club vs Barcelona

40' Both Garcia and Laporte go for the ball inside the box and there is crash

42' Inaki Williams has the ball in the back of the net but he's offside

57' Pau Cubarsi brings down Inaki Williams and sees yellow

59' Sancet has a certain goal denied by a brilliant save from Joan Garcia

62' Raphinha, Fermín Lopez and Lewandowski come on as Torres, Rashford and Olmo off

68' GOAL! Yamal breaks the deadlock for visitors! Athletic Club 0-1 Barcelona

78' Highlight from Athletic Club vs Barcelona

88' Highlight from Athletic Club vs Barcelona

Line-ups

Athletic Club XI: Laporte, I.Williams, Gorosabel, Berenguer, Unai Simón, Dani Vivian, Alejandro Rego, Unai Gómez, Adama Boiro, Mikel Jauregizar, Selton Sánchez

Subs: Berchiche, Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta, Lekue, Vesga, Gorka Guruzeta, Jesús Areso, Robert Navarro, Oihan Sancet, Nico Serrano, Álex Padilla, Eder García, Iker Monreal

Barcelona XI: Cancelo, Olmo, Rashford, Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia, Joan García, Casado, Yamal, Gerard Martín, Cubarsi, Bernal

Subs: Szczesny, Lewandowski, Raphinha, Araujo, Pedri, Fermín López, Roony Bardghji, Diego Kochen, Álvaro Cortés, Xavi Espart, Tommy Marqués