Internet Desk: Despite being without Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at home, in a La Liga encounter on Saturday.
With no brilliance, the Catalan side began to recover from stumbling in the last round, in which they drew 1-1 with Betis in the first half, with goal from striker Paco Alcacer, who was assisted by Neymar to score.
Argentine striker Lionel Messi increased to 40, in a free kick, which had a great collaboration of Iraizoz, who went badly in the ball and ended up deflecting it inside the goal. Right-back Aleix Vidal closed the count at 22 on the final stage.
Suarez finished preserving in the last hour, giving place to Alcácer in the escalation. Messi, meanwhile, left the pitch after 19 minutes of the second half, replaced by Sergi Roberto. From Barca’s trendy attacking trio, only Neymar played for 90 minutes.
With the result, the Catalan team reached the 45 points, getting one less than Real Madrid, who nevertheless made 19 matches so far in the competition, against 21 of the arch rival.
Athletic, on the other hand, lost the chance to enter, even if provisionally, in the zone of classification for the Europa League. The Basque team has 32 points, for the time being, in the eighth place in the table.