Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Barcelona: Nine-man Basques survive Catalan onslaught

“The tie is open,” said Andres Iniesta at the end. And it is, but at once it might have been closed or blown even further open, in a topsy-turvy and violent clash at the San Mames.

Athletic Bilbao finished the game with nine men, after Raul Garcia and  Ander Iturraspe were dismissed—both receiving second yellow cards for kicking Neymar—but they won it, thanks to Aritz Aduriz and Inaki Williams’ first-half goals.

Lionel Messi pulled Barcelona back into it with a powerful free-kick that Gorka Iraizoz could not keep out.

He hit the post at the end too, as Barcelona threw the kitchen sink at Athletic, but could not find the net again against the Basques.

Athletic will have to survive 90 more minutes, which will be easier for them if they play like they did in the first half rather than the second.

Iniesta gave the ball away and Raul Garcia crossed for Aduriz to open the scoring in the 25th minute, before the striker set up Williams three minutes later to double the lead, as the hosts stunned the Spanish Cup holders.

They were, however, fortunate to get away without conceding a penalty when Xabier Etxeita tripped Neymar in the area just before the interval.

Iniesta, Busquets and Jordi Alba were booked while complaining over the incident, with Barcelona left feeling hard done by, much like they were when Aritz Aduriz punched Samuel Umtiti and got away with it.

In the second half the visitors improved and Messi’s swerving free-kick beat Iraizoz despite his attempts to fool the referee from thinking the ball had crossed the line.

As Neymar began to terrify the Basque defence with his excursions down the left they panicked and started to kick him, eventually being numerically disadvantaged by it.

Barcelona could not find their equaliser though and will now have to turn things around at Camp Nou.