Nine-men Athletic Bilbao beat misfiring Barcelona 2-1 at San Mames stadium to secure a one-goal advantage in the first leg of Copa del Rey, round of 16 match. The match was full of entertainment, high tempo, bad refereeing decisions resulting in two red cards, goals and misses.
Barcelona, who are gunning for a record 29th Copa del Rey, entered the match as the favourites, as they always do, but were left reeling on the wrong side of the result.
Aritz Aduriz scored the first goal in the 25th minute on a semi-counter attack. It all began with a blocked Iniesta pass on the centre-line, a couple of exchanged passes and a final header, scoreline reading 1-0.
Athletic then doubled their lead in the 28th minute from a cracking shot from Inaki Williams while Barcelona were still recovering from the first goal.
There were two appeals for penalty in the first half by the visiting team but both were turned down by the referee.
Barcelona halved their deficit seven minutes into the second half from a Messi free-kick 25 yards away from goal. The shot was judged accurately by the goalkeeper but he was unable to tip it over the bar, 2-1. Bilbao then withstood several Barcelona attacks and managed to cling on to the scoreline despite having to play with 9-men for last ten minutes. Raul Garcia was sent off in the 74th minute for a second yellow card while Iturraspe was sent off for bringing down Neymar in the 80th minute.
In the extra-time, Barcelona missed a chance to equalise as Messi hit the goal post with the last shot of the game.The goal that Barcelona scored meant that they managed to get an important away goal which can help them get through if the equation gets complicated.
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique admitted that his team struggled in the beginning but were the superior side in the second half. In his words,”Given how the game went, the goal breathes life into us. At the end we deserved the equaliser“.
The second leg of the contest will be played at Barcelona’s homeground Camp Nou on 11th January.
