Athletic 1-0 Barcelona: Sloppy start as Aduriz golazo makes difference

This is not how Antoine Griezmann or Frenkie de Jong dreamed it would begin.

An 89th Aritz Aduriz scissors kick saw Athletic Bilbao score a 1-0 win over the Catalans, consigning the Catalans to their first opening day defeat since 2008.

Ernesto Valverde started with an exciting side, on paper, leaving Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic on the bench to play with a new midfield of De Jong, Sergi Roberto and Carles Alena. However, Athletic came out by far the stronger.

Inaki Williams had the first two efforts of the game, one long-distance piledriver fielded well by Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Then the forward broke in down the left and forced the German into another smart save at his near post.

Barcelona were struggling to click, with Raul Garcia ensuring De Jong stayed uncomfortable, without much breathing room to strut his stuff.

However, despite Athletic being on top, Barcelona had the best chance of the first half when a poor passbook left Luis Suarez in on goal, but the Uruguayan struck the post.

He was nursing a calf injury at the time and could not continue, coming off for Rafinha Alcantara after 37 minutes.

At the other end Raul Garcia came close after Jordi Alba was skinned but Ter Stegen was in the right place at the right time again to deny him.

Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele struggled to create anything after the break and although Ivan Rakitic improved the team after replacing Alena, who suffered, the game was left deadlocked until the final minutes.

Aduriz, 38, appeared and struck a remarkable goal, consigning Barcelona to defeat.