Barcelona remain perfect to begin the new La Liga season with two wins from two games as the Catalans opened the home portion of the campaign with a 2-0 win over Athletic Club at Camp Nou on Thursday night. The final score does not tell the story of a game fully dominated by the Blaugrana, who were the better team from start to finish and created several huge chances, and Raphinha and Fermín López found the net again to give Barça a really good win at home.
Barça
had the control for the majority of the first half and did an excellent job of moving the ball quickly and with purpose through the lines, with Eric García and Pau Cubarsí constantly finding forwards with line-breaking passes that broke the pressure of Athletic’s mid-block.
Athletic were content to defend and try to bring danger on the counter, and gave the Barça defense a couple of scares but were never able to threaten Joan Garcia, who didn’t make a save but had two or three crucial interventions as a sweeper.
Barça, on the other hand, consistently created good chances throughout the opening 45 minutes and could have easily scored multiple goals: Lamine Yamal had a perfect strike denied by a brilliant save from Unai Simón, Raphinha hit the post with a header, Pedri had a goal disallowed for a narrow offside by Yamal in the buildup, and Lamine was once again stopped by Simón inside the box when he had Anthony Gordon all alone by his side ready to score a tap-in.
Barça’s pressure eventually paid off, however, thanks to an outrageous pass by Pedri to find Raphinha all alone in the box, and the Brazilian rounded Simón and scored a beautiful opener to give Barça a narrow but deserved lead at the break.
Barça played an even better second half in terms of controlling the action and limiting Athletic’s danger on the counter, and the hosts continued to create really good scoring chances.
Within just the first 15 minutes of the period, Yamal hit the crossbar, Xavi Espart forced a good save from Simón with a powerful strike from distance, Fermín was denied by the Athletic keeper twice inside the box, Gordon fired just over the bar, and the Catalans somehow couldn’t find the net despite their dominance.
The hour mark brought the much-antcipated debut of Rodri, who came on and immediately began doing Rodri things with his ability to connect the lines and make key defensive contributions. Barça were in full control but still needed a second goal, which became even more evident when Oihan Sancet hit the post and nearly equalized for the visitors.
Separation was finally found with 10 minutes to go thanks to a lucky bounce inside the box: a cross from Karim Adeyemi was poorly cleared by Aymeric Laporte, who essentially assisted the easiest goal of Fermín López career as he passed it into an open net to double the Barça lead.
The hosts continued to attack looking for more and Yamal found Adeyemi at the far post with a sensational cross, but the substitute missed another big chance and Barça couldn’t make it 3-0.
The final whistle came to end a really good night for the Blaugrana, who played a much more complete game compared to the opener against Elche despite scoring fewer goals. They controlled the game better, and created a number of great chances that could have easily turned into three or four more goals on another night. Well done, boys!
