The Messi and Neymar show
Barcelona earned a deserved 2-0 victory over Athletic de Bilbao thanks to some fine link-up play betweenLeo Messi and Neymar. The two Barça stars took the game by the scruff of its neck in the second half to defeat the Basque side, who had seemed comfortable, but posed little threat in attack.
With the score at 0-0, Luis Enrique brought Neymar on in search of the winning goal. In the 74th minute, Andrés Iniesta found the Brazilian who eventually played a through ball to Messi, but the Argentine shot poorly from close range.
Another good spell of Barça pressure in the 78th minute saw Sergio Busquets win back possession and feed Messi, who slipped the ball through to the onrushing Neymar through the middle. The Brazilian ran on to slide his finish past the keeper from inside the box for his first goal in La Liga this season.
The Catalan side had the chance to double their lead one minute later after Messi and Neymar took advantage of a mistake by Aymeric Laporte, but the Brazilian's cross to Sandro was cut out by goalkeeper Gorka.
The Brazilian and Argentine linked up for a third time, when Messi jinked into the Bilbao area and squared the ball to Neymar. The latter took a touch and placed the ball in off Iraizoz's left-hand post to make it 2-0. Neymar may have supplied the finish but the home fans' chants of 'Messi, Messi, Messi' praised the man who made the goal.
