Barcelona 2-1 Athletic Club: Yamal & Lewandowski fire Barca to victory

Barcelona's solid start to the La Liga season continued on Saturday with a 2-1 win over Athletic Club.

Lamine Yamal netted midway through the first half, before Oihan Sancet tied things up from the penalty spot, but the excellent Robert Lewandowski grabbed the goal his performance deserved to fire Barca to all three points.

A chorus of boos rained down on Nico Williams from the Barcelona fans who clearly felt betrayed by the Spain winger's decision to stick with Athletic this summer. Williams was involved in nearly everything his side did in the opening stages, but Jules Kounde did a good job of keeping him at bay.

Raphinha's back-heel effort got fans off their seats 20 minutes in and was quickly followed by a smart chance at the other end for Williams, but it was another Spain winger who was wheeling away in celebration soon after.

Yamal collected a free-kick on the edge of the box and curled a glorious effort into the back of the net courtesy of a deflection off Inigo Lekue.

Lewandowski struck the post soon after, before a chaotic sequence brought the first half to a close. Alex Berenguer's calls for a penalty were waved away, before Lewandowski's shout for a penalty of his own was ignored. VAR then chimed in to review the first incident and deemed Pau Cubarsi's challenge to be an unfair one, awarding a penalty to the visitors. Up stepped Sancet to tie things up.

The second half began with Lewandowski cursing his luck once again as he headed Raphinha's free-kick against the woodwork.

Athletic stopper Alex Padilla then pulled off a point-blank save to deny Lewandowski, who looked to the sky as he wondered whether his efforts would ever be rewarded.

With 16 minutes to go, Lewandowski finally got his goal. Pedri's cross was deflected into his path and the veteran striker was never going to miss as he swept a half-volley into an empty net.

Barcelona now have two wins from two this season, having bested Valencia by the same scoreline last week.

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