Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Barcelona: Ivan Rakitic settles pulsating game at San Mames

Barcelona left the Basque Country victorious on Sunday night after beating Athletic Bilbao with Ivan Rakitic's first-half header proving the difference.

Luis Enrique made one change to his team that saw Marc-Andre ter Stegen replace the departed Claudio Bravo, with the rest of his starting 11 consisting of the same players who beat Real Betis 6-2 on the opening weekend of La Liga.

And it was Ter Stegen who was the first to be involved in the game's first incident of note. Receiving a back pass from Samuel Umtiti with just over ten minutes gone, the German tried to be too clever and lost possession easily to Benat as he attempted to set Barça onto the attack.

Benat fired straight at the German's face and the Blaugrana had escaped unscathed in a crucial moment of the game when Bilbao were coming into proceedings.

Nine minutes later, however, and it was business as usual for the Spanish champions.

Arda Turan was afforded far too much time on the left and the Turk lifted the ball perfectly into the box for Ivan Rakitic to ghost in and power home after 21 minutes.

Bilbao, spurred on by the ever-energetic San Mames faithful, gave the Blaugrana one or two scares during proceedings but very rarely tested Ter Stegen to his fullest. Aritz Aduriz tame curled effort just before half-time was the last testing attempt for Ernesto Valverde's team during the opening 45 minutes.

Barça should have taken a commanding lead into the break with a second goal through Arda, but he lost his focus and placed his shot wide after good play by Messi to pick out the 29-year-old.

Messi then began the second-half where he left off the first as the Argentinian wriggled free before placing hs effort wide of Bilbao's goal. Luis Suarez saw an audacious volleyed attempt sail agonisingly wide after fantastic link-up play between Rakitic and Sergi Roberto.

Los Leones had a double chance spurned as the 70 minute mark approached. Substitute Raul Garcia was afforded too much space to shoot and fire wide before Inaki Williams raced clear to have his poor attempt easily saved by Ter Stegen.

Barça's chances continued to pile up as the game draw to a close. When Messi blazed over after Arda set his team on the counter attack, somehow it seemed like the encounter was set to be decided by one goal and, ulimately, it proved to be the case.

Benat would get once last chance to redeem himself for his earlier miss but his free-kick in the last ten minutes sailed into the side netting to the despair of the Bilbao supporters who celebrated thinking the ball had found the net.

The Blaugrana finished the game with Messi teasing the Bilbao defence and sending Gorka Iraizoz onto the floor, but his square pass to Suarez saw the Uruguayan's shot somehow blocked on the line and he missed the opportunity to add his fourth goal of the season.

In what was at times a frantic affair at San Mames, Luis Enrique takes his team back to Catalonia with two wins from two and Barça keep pace with Las Palmas and Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.