Athletic Club 0–1 Barcelona: Raphinha Gives Barca the Victory!
In a bid to continue their 9-point domination at top of the La Liga table, Barcelona traveled to face Athletic Club on Sunday.
After their second defeat of the season to Almeria, Barcelona beat Valencia 1-0 last week as they faced Athletic Club who were sitting ninth in the La Liga table with 33 points, winless in their last three games.
Barca dominated the first half with Torres and Lewandowski missing good chances. Athletic Club was threatening as well as Ter Stegen saved Inaki Williams shot before Raul Garcia struck the crossbar. However, it was Raphinha who scored the opener for the Blaugrana as Busquets recovered the Brazilian's attempted cross and played him in open space as he rifled the ball into the bottom corner.
Athletic Club pressed high in the second half chasing an equalizer. Athletic’s best chance came in the 72nd minute when Inaki Williams played Berenguer and the midfielder fired the ball off the post and behind after Ter Stegen gets a crucial touch. The German keeper made crucial saves against Iker Muniain and Inaki Williams as well.
Athletic finally reached their long-sought equalizer in the 86th minute through Inaki Williams. After a fast counterattack, Gorka Guruzeta found the striker in the perfect position to run and score the goal. However, the goal was ruled out due to a debatable handball from Muniain earlier.
Kounde further was forced to make a clearance off the line in the second half's stoppage time. The Catalan giants held on to their lead in the added 7 minutes and celebrated a hard-fought 1-0 away victory.
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