Rodri and Gordon Make Their Debuts as Raphinha and Lopez Goals Secure Barcelona Victory

Defending champions Barcelona secured their second consecutive La Liga victory with a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at the partially renovated Camp Nou.

Rafinha and Fermin Lopes scored two goals for the Catalan club in Thursday night’s match.

Brazilian winger Rafinha slotted the ball past the goalkeeper in the 37th minute of the first half. Lopes then scored the winning second goal in the 82nd minute. Barcelona were unable to extend their lead due to several missed goals and the ball hitting the crossbar.

Barca coach Hansi Flick made three changes to the starting XI that thrashed Elche 5-0, with new signing Anthony Gordon making his first start.

The German coach also brought back Pedri Gonzalez in midfield and Pau Kubersi in defense.

Flick has been using Rafinha as a ‘makeshift’ striker after the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres. Barcelona failed to sign Julen Alvarez from Atletico Madrid as a transfer target, as they refused to open talks with the Argentine forward. However, Rafinha is not letting that lack show; he scored his first goal of the day after scoring twice in the Elche match.

Barcelona, ​​who had been in control from the start, could have gone ahead before taking the lead, but Rafinha’s header from Xavi Esparte’s cross hit the post. Then, after receiving the ball from a great pass from Pedri, Rafinha dribbled past Bilbao goalkeeper Unai Simeone and fired the ball into an empty net.

Young star Lamine Yamal had a chance to double the lead just before the break, but Simon blocked it. Anthony Gordon expressed his anger at the time, because if Yamal had not shot himself and passed, Gordon himself could have scored the goal in an unprotected position.

Early in the second half, Gordon’s powerful shot went just over the post. Yamal, still recovering from a hamstring injury in April, had an effort blocked by the crossbar.

Flick brought on Manchester City star midfielder Rodri as a substitute late in the match, marking the Spanish star’s debut in a Barca jersey.

Bilbao tried to turn things around and were denied a goal when Ouihan Sunset’s shot hit the post. However, Barca got their second goal of the match in the 82nd minute after a terrible mistake by their defender Aymeric Laporte. Substitute Karim Adeyemi’s cross beat Simon and Lopes had an easy chance to slot the ball into the net.

Adeyemi had a chance to make it 3-0 in the very last minute of the match from Yamal’s great pass, but his shot was blocked by Simon from point blank range.