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First Division - Day 22

Athletic Bilbao 2 - Barcelona 5

Athletic: Iraizoz; De Marcos, Etxeita, Laporte, Balenziaga (Aurtenetxe 52‘); San José, Mikel Rico; Susaeta (Beñat 69‘), Unai López, Muniain (Gurpegui 78‘); Aduríz. 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona: Bravo; Dani Alves (Adriano 69‘), Piqué, Mathieu, Jordi Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Xavi (Rafinha 74’); Messi, Luis Suárez (Pedro 80‘), Neymar. 4-3-3.

Goals:
0-1. 15. Messi. Free kick from outside of area which took deflection off San José.
0-2. 26. Luis Suárez. Ran on to Messi return pass and curled shot past Iraizoz.
1-2. 59. Mikel Rico. Turned ball into net after Bravo pushed out shot from Aduríz.
1-3. 62. De Marcos (own goal). Deflected wayward Messi shot into net off chest.
1-4. 64. Neymar. Connected with Messi pass to steer angled shot across keeper.
2-4. 67. Aduríz. Picked up Muniain pass and squeezed shot inside near post.
2-5. 86. Pedro. Got on the end of Busquets cross to turn shot wide of Iraizoz.

Yellow cards: Balenziaga 40’, Dani Alves 45’, Unai López 69’, Gurpegui 91’ / red cards: Etxeita 75’.

Barcelona close to within a point of leaders Real Madrid after a resounding 2-5 win at Athletic Bilbao in the last game on Sunday evening. Messi had a hand in all five goals, scoring the first himself on the quarter hour mark with a direct free kick which took a deflection off the head of San José in the defensive wall. Bravo had to save from Aduríz and Susaeta soon afterwards, but Luis Suárez tested Iraizoz with a close range header, and a few minutes later the ex Liverpool striker fired home the second after latching on to Messi’s return pass. The Basque side didn’t give up though, Aduríz heading against the post before the interval, and a quarter of an hour into the second half Mikel Rico got one back after Bravo could only push out Aduríz’s shot. However the visitors scored twice in the next five minutes to put the game beyond Athletic’s reach, De Marcos deflecting a wayward Messi shot into his own net after Suárez had crossed from the right, and Neymar picking up Messi’s pass to steer a shot across Iraizoz. Aduríz got a second for the hosts theee minutes after that, squeezing an angled shot inside Bravo’s near post, but with a quarter of an hour to go they were left with ten men when Etxeita was sent off for a high tackle on Suárez which took him out of the match. Pedro came on though to make it five after Messi and Busquets combined to set him up, and Neymar could have added a sixth had he been able to beat Iraizoz near the end.