Barcelona Gains Nine Points Back. Athletic Club’s Victory

Barcelona battled to a 1-0 victory against Athletic Club, reopening a nine point advantage at the top of La Liga.

In order to reply to Real Madrid’s victory over Espanyol with a valiant three points in Bilbao, La Blaugrana had to dig deep in the last minutes.

The Brazilian international Raphinha scored the game’s sole goal in first-half extra time after the Catalans weren’t at their best in the early stages.

After the break, Barcelona continued to pose a sporadic danger, but in the closing stages, they were grateful for Marc-Andre Ter Stegen’s two outstanding saves.

Inaki Williams’ outstanding goal was disallowed by VAR just as Athletic Club seemed to have tied the score late on, allowing Barcelona to escape with the victory.

Before to the international break, Barcelona will play Real Madrid in a high-stakes El Clasico match at Camp Nou the next weekend, while Athletic Club will travel to Real Valladolid.