La Liga champions Barcelona fell to their first opening day defeat of the season in 11 years when they were beaten 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao thanks to a sensational late overhead kick from veteran striker Aritz Aduriz.
The 38-year-old came off the bench late in the game and soon made Barca pay for squandering several chances by acrobatically lashing an unstoppable shot into the net in the 89th minute. The Catalans were without injured captain Lionel Messi but lined up with 200 million euros of new talent in France forward Antoine Griezmann and Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
However, they lacked sparkle against an energetic Bilbao side who had the better run of play for the first half even though Barca came closest to scoring before the interval.
Luis Suarez struck the near post in the first half when presented with a terrible back pass from Athletic’s Unai Lopez and was soon forced off with a calf injury, while substitute Rafinha rattled the crossbar after coming on.
Barca improved after the break as coach Ernesto Valverde replaced young midfielder Carles Alena with the more experienced Ivan Rakitic and spent most of the second period in the home side’s area. Rakitic and Rafinha each came close to scoring for the visitors but they were outdone by one of Spanish football’s best loved players in Aduriz, who has announced that he will retire at the end of the season. It was the first time Barca have lost their opening game of the season since 2008, when they were beaten 1-0 by Numancia in Pep Guardiola’s debut game in charge, although they swiftly recovered from that setback and went on to win the treble. Barcelona turned up for Friday’s La Liga opener at Athletic Bilbao parading a fresh-faced side containing expensive new recruits but they left cursing a strike from a rival player they know all too well.
Aritz Aduriz was on the pitch for no more than a minute when he swivelled his body to meet an arching cross from Ander Capa and smashed the ball into the net with an overhead kick in the 89th minute, giving Bilbao a 1-0 win over the champions.
The 38-year-old striker famously scored a hat-trick against Barca in a thumping 4-0 win in the 2015 Spanish Super Cup and this time he upstaged the debut of Barca’s new signings Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong. Barca coach Ernesto Valverde worked with Aduriz for four seasons while at Athletic and he knew exactly where the ball was heading when it came towards the towering Basque striker, who is to hang up his boots at the end of the season.
It was the 15th consecutive season in which Aduriz has scored in La Liga and his 158th strike overall.
The striker savoured the moment, recognising it might be one of his last.
Aduriz’s goal inflicted a first opening day defeat on Barca since they were beaten 1-0 at minnows Numancia in 2008.
