Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao in a five-goal encounter on Wednesday, 6 January 2021 thanks to big contributions from Messi and Pedri.
Despite going down early in the first three minutes of the game; Barcelona kept their cool and eventually won the game against Athletic Bilbao to go third on the league table.
The game got off to a bad start for Barcelona (and a good one for newly appointed Athletic Bilbao coach Marcelino). Inaki Williams scored within three minutes after he caught the Barcelona defenders on a break.
The Blaugranas prevailed later after a Frenkie De Jong cut back from the near post allowed Pedri head into an empty net in the 14th minute. After the equalizer, Barcelona continued to dominate the game. Lionel Messi then opened his scoring account for the night after a return pass from Pedri just before the first half ended.
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The visitors continued oppressing their hosts and Messi struck the woodwork with a delightful shot. In the 62nd minute, it was the woodwork that helped him. The Argentine magician ghosted into the box and met Greizmann’s pass with a one-time shot. Bilbao’s shot-stopper Unai Simon had no time to react to Messi’s second goal.
Messi made an error in the 93rd minute that saw Remiro set up Muniain to put the game within Athletic Bilbao’s reach. But it was already too late and the damage was done.
? The ? plays from an action-packed W! #AthleticBarça
+ @Pedri goal
+ #Messi brace— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 6, 2021
With the 3-2 win, Barcelona moves five points behind Real Madrid who currently occupy the second spot. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid leads La Liga with two points and seven points above Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. The leaders also have two games in hand.
Messi and Pedri = Messi and Inniesta, I love it.