Barcelona escape with a 1-0 win against Athletic Bilbao

Barcelona picked up their ninth 1-0 win of the season as they beat Athletic Bilbao by that score at the San Mamés Stadium.

Xavi Hernandez set out his team in the traditional 4-3-3 with Ferran Torres and Raphinha accompanying Robert Lewandowski. All three had differing performances but the Brazilian would be the one to stand out.

In the dying moments of the first half, the Athletic Bilbao defense cleared a ball that landed to Sergio Busquets. After scanning his options, Busquets spotted a wide open Raphinha on the right who thundered his shot past the keeper. Initially called offside, the call was rightly reversed after a VAR review.

Six minutes into the second half, Lewandowski had the opportunity to increase the Catalan lead. Alejandro Balde raced to catch up to a ball close to going out. He managed to do so and sent in a cross that Lewandowski connected only to see his effort go wide. It was his second miss of the game as he could have opened the scoring in the first half but saw his touch fail him, allowing the goalkeeper to come out and block his shot.

Raphinha may have scored Barcelona’s one and only goal, but it was Marc-Andre ter Stegen who ensured Athletic Bilbao didn’t score.

Iker Muniain nearly equalized in what would have been an amazing curler only for Ter Stegen to go airborne to send it out for a corner kick.

Given everything going outside the pitch with Barcelona and the Negreira case, what is likely to dominate airwaves and column inches is the disallowed goal for Athletic Bilbao late in the game.

Iñaki Williams scored after Barcelona lost the ball from a throw-in. However, following a VAR review, a handball was called on Iker Muniain which occurred when he jumped to get the ball. Depending on where one falls, one will say it was correctly called off while the other will say it wasn’t.

Athletic Bilbao had another opportunity after that when Iñaki Williams finally ended up getting the better of Balde. His low cross was whiffed on by his brother, Nico Williams. A follow-up shot was then saved by Ter Stegen and a rebound shot was saved by the head of Marcos Alonso. A heart-pounding ten seconds for both sets of supporters.

The final whistle blew, confirming Barcelona’s win. A win that was less than convincing given how the final minutes played out. Things could have been different had Lewandowski put away his two chances. Ansu Fati also had a chance when he came on but his touch also let him down and his shot was blocked by a defender.

“We need more patience, more calm,” Xavi said after the game. “We had the same problem again as in other games. If we score the second goal, it would have been different.”

At the end of the day, picking up the win is the most important thing for Xavi and his team. They once again put themselves 9 points ahead of Real Madrid, who they face next week in El Clasico. 

Despite having four players one yellow card away from suspension, all four will be available for next week. Perhaps most importantly, Pedri will make his return from injury in a game where Barça have the opportunity to all but put the LaLiga race to bed.