Barcelona are three-for-three to start the La Liga season as they collected a hard-earned 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday afternoon at the Camp Nou.
Neymar scored a brace in Barcelona's 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao
Neymar came on as a second half substitute to score both Barcelona goals as the Catalonians will now be able to sit back and watch the Madrid derby knowing that at least one of their title challengers will assuredly drop points.
Munir earned his third start of the season as he joined Lionel Messi and Pedro up top in attack. Head coach Luis Enrique opted for what looks to be his first choice midfield consisting of Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Andrés Iniesta, while Jordi Alba, Javier Mascherano, Jeremy Mathieu and Marc Montoya filled the back line in front of goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Athletic started the better of the two but soon Barcelona would respond only to see Pedro fail to convert from close range and Munir unable to finish a one-on-one against Athletic stopper Gorka Iraizoz. Barcelona had a shout for a penalty in the 38th minute when Munir was pushed down in the area by Gurpegui, but the referee elected to wave play on.
Just 90 seconds before the break Iraizoz came up big again when he blocked a Munir shot after an inch-perfect cross from Messi. The save capped off a first half that saw the Basque side clearly up for the battle against their more decorated opponents.
Five minutes after halftime Munir found himself in the mix again as he finished off an Iniesta pass, however the La Roba debutant was called for offside, which upon replay was a borderline call.
But for all of Barcelona's efforts, Athletic's defense appeared to be unbreakable and benefitted from the referee's leniency in allowing the match to be played on. Entering the final 15 minutes it looked like the boys from Bilbao would be able to return home with a point, but that all changed in the 79th minute when the hosts finally broke open the scoring.
Busquets slipped a crafty ball into Messi who then crossed left to Neymar. From there, the streaking Brazilian made a slight move on Iraizoz before shooting past the visiting stopper, who did manage to slightly deflect the ball, however Iraizoz could only watch as the ball trickled into the right corner of the net.
Six minutes later Barcelona effectively put the match to bed with a second strike from Neymar who once again reaped the rewards of Messi's hard work. This time the Argentine collected a ball deep and then charged down the right side, eluding three Athletic defenders and drawing in a fourth before cutting a pass back to an unmarked Neymar who had all the time in the world to collect and fire in a shot to make it 2-0.
Next up for Luis Enrique's squad is a Wednesday Champions league date against Apoel of Cyprus.
MARCA
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