Puig made a positive impact off the bench for Barcelona vs Athletic

Riqui Puig made a positive impact off the bench for Barcelona on Tuesday night, as the Catalan side just about beat Athletic Club 1-0 at the Camp Nou.

Heading into this match, a lot of the focus was on Gerard Pique's comments after Barcelona's draw against Sevilla, where he intimated that Real Madrid had benefitted from refereeing decisions since LaLiga Santander got back underway.

"If he said it, I suppose it's for a reason," Riqui Puig said in relation to Pique's comments.

"It's all about the minimum; some handballs are a penalty and some aren't, and I think this happens in half of the league.

"I say it in general, there are lots of games that depend on some refereeing decisions.

"If your team loses three points at this point, it's very difficult."

The 20-year-old hasn't had as much game time in the Barcelona first team as he would have liked, but he is glad to have been given an opportunity by Quique Setien.

"I'm very happy for the minutes and the confidence [of Setien]," he noted.

"If this is accompanied by good results, I am delighted."

Barcelona found it difficult to break down Athletic, something the midfielder recognised.

"We had a hard time at first getting clear-cut chances," Riqui Puig explained.

"In the last 30 minutes, we had better chances."