A sublime winner by 38-year-old striker Aritz Aduriz handed Athletic Bilbao victory over champions F. C. Barcelona on the opening day of the La Liga season.
Aritz Aduriz scored an incredible late winner as F. C. Barcelona began their La Liga title defence with a frustrating 1-0 defeat to Athletic Bilbao at San Mames. The 38-year-old came off the bench to strike home a hammer blow with an incredible acrobatic scissor kick with just two minutes remaining to down Ernesto Valverde's side.
It capped a miserable night for Barca, who lost Luis Suarez to injury in the first half and hit the woodwork twice. The Uruguayan was forced off just before the interval and replaced by Rafinha after sustaining a muscle injury in his right leg.
With Lionel Messi already out injured, Barca were forced to deploy Antoine Griezmann as their central striker for the second half. But he failed to impress as Barca struggled to find a way past Unai Simon and the stubborn Athletic defence.
With Philippe Coutinho on the verge of joining Bayern Munich and Messi out injured, Valverde was left short of attacking options.
But the most surprising absentee from the starting eleven was Sergio Busquets, who along with Ivan Rakitic found himself on the bench with Carles Alena given a rare chance to impress.
The Blaugrana began in dominant fashion, with Ousmane Dembele going close on a number of occasions.
Suarez hit the post before coming off injured in the first half and then his replacement Rafinha was unfortunate to see his effort cannon back off the post, while substitute Ivan Rakitic went close late on.
But the Catalans would rue their missed chances when veteran striker Aduriz met a cross from the right from Ander Capa and struck superbly past Marc Andre ter Stegen from 12 yards out.
