Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona shared the points in a highly entertaining contest in La Liga. The home side were the much better team for the first 70 minutes and struck the crossbar in the first period before Inigo Martinez headed them into the lead in the 50th minute. However, Barca took charge in the final 20 minutes and that was enough for them to not lose the game.
Memphis Depay levelled after beating goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala with a powerful shot just seconds after Frenkie de Jong had struck the bar. The Catalans even had opportunities to win it, but they ended the match with 10 men when Eric Garcia was sent off for cynically bringing down Nico Williams when he was clean through on the goal. The result was no fluke for the Basques who fully deserved their point and could have easily won the contest.
Marcelino's men started the match with three corners in the first two minutes, but Martin Braithwaite missed a glorious chance to put Barca ahead against the run of play when he blazed over. Then, Oihan Sancet nearly scored for Athletic Bilbao after 11 minutes after being played in by Iker Muniain, but his strike came back off the crossbar.
Neto was shaky early on and the home side were definitely on top. Gerard Pique had to go off injured after 31 minutes and Ronald Araujo replaced him. That forced changes at the back and despite Athletic playing the better football, Barca had the ball in the Bilbao net.
Just before half-time, Ronald Araujo scored with a lovely overhead kick, but the referee harshly deemed that Martin Braithwaite had fouled Mikel Balenziaga in the build up and the goal was disallowed. That led to protests from the Barca players and even the injured Pique as the players headed for the dressing rooms.
August 21, 2021
In the second half, the Basques continued to threaten and Araujo had to clear off the line to prevent Alex Berenguer scoring and then, shortly afterwards, Athletic took the lead. Iker Muniain sent in a corner and Inigo Martinez rose highest to head into Neto's right hand corner. It was fully deserved and Barca had work to do.
Chances kept on coming for the home side as did numerous corner and Neto had to make a fine save to prevent Sancet making it 2-0. However, around the 70 minute mark, Bilbao started to run out of steam and Barca took over.
Frenkie de Jong hit the crossbar with a chip and then Memphis Depay levelled after Dani Garcia lost the ball. Barca countered and Sergi Roberto passed to Depay who beat the keeper at his near post. After the goal, Barca started to look more dangerous and Depay hit narrowly wide of the post four minutes from time while Jordi Alba also had an opportunity.
At the other end, Nico Williams got through on goal, but he was hauled down by Eric Garcia in stoppage time. The former Man City man took the red card for the team and the points were shared.