La Liga 2016-17: Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Barcelona - 5 talking points
Barcelona scraped through to secure a 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames to join Las Palmas and arch-rivals Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table. The Blaugrana had Ivan Rakitic’s 21st-minute header to thank for the win as it also helped manager Luis Enrique record his 100th win in charge of the Camp Nou outfit.
In a rainy night and under difficult conditions Barcelona held on to their slender one-goal advantage to secure their second win of the season, making it six wins out of six in league encounters against The Rojiblancos. The defeat leaves the basque outfit without a point after two games into the La Liga campaign, having already suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Sporting Gijon in their opening game of the season.
Here are the major talking points from Barcelona’s 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao:
#1 Marc-Andre ter Stegen has a long way to go to fill in Claudio Bravo’s big shoes
The German international didn’t concede in his first league outing of the season, but the clean sheet didn’t come without its own share of hiccups. In the first half, Ter Stegen gifted the ball to Benat and Ernesto Valverde’s men almost took the lead if not for an excellent save by the German shot-stopper.
While Ter Stegen did make a few good blocks as the game progressed, his lapse almost cost Barcelona and the 24-year-old will have to pick up his game if he wants to continue as Luis Enrique’s first choice goalkeeper as the season progresses.
Claudio Bravo, who recently signed for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, had better ball distribution and showed more composure in pressure situations and Ter Stegen will have to learn a thing or two from his former teammate if he wants to keep new signing Jasper Cillessen away from the starting line-up.
The clean sheet, however, should help Ter Stegen put the ghosts of last season’s 4-0 drubbing at the hand of Bilbao in the Spanish Supercup to bed.