In the midst of a very rarefied atmosphere in San Mamés due to the ‘Negreira case’, with the Athletic fans especially angry, Barça took three points (0-1) that are worth gold in the fight for the League, leaving the advantage in 9 over Real Madrid. And how could it be otherwise, the party had a great arbitration controversy, especially with a goal disallowed by Iñaki Williams for a handball several seconds before Muniain. The VAR warned, Gil Manzano decided not to validate the goal and Raphinha’s goal gave the blaugrana victory.
The game began evenly, although the best chances were from the Catalans, with a high shot from Busquets and a one-on-one from Lewandowski. However, in the last touch, the Pole lost the long ball and Agirrezabala was quick to get out of it.
The passing of the minutes was good for Athletic, with a high pressure that was suffocating the release of the ball from Barça. In addition, an error by Koundé, who miscalculated in a jump, almost caused Berenguer’s goalbut Ter Stegen was also fast.
Raúl García had it in his head to change the sign of the meeting, but his head hit the stick. Barcelona suffered, especially with the raids by Nico and Iñaki Williams on the wings, but they held on.
And on the brink of rest, the goal came. Busquets raised his head with the usual tranquility of him almost at the edge of the area and he found raphinha. The Brazilian controlled and did not hesitate to shoot with his bad leg, his right, to score with a low and tight shot.
Lewandowski, after a great pass from Balde, was about to score the second, but his header narrowly missed. Barça did not achieve the second, so they had to suffer one more game.
In the final minutes, Athletic pushed to the maximum. A great play by Munian ended in a shot with a perfect thread, but Ter Stegen flew to avoid the goal.
And the controversy came in the 87th minute. Iñaki Williams beat the back of the culé defense with a long ball and shot the German goalkeeper arriving in the race. However, the VAR intervened to warn that in the play of stealing the ball, in the Athletic field, Munian had touched the ball with his hand. Gil Manzano went to the monitor and annulled the goal.
Despite the stick, Athletic did not give up, they had another very clear chance. Iñaki Williams won the area from the right, his brother Nico missed the shot and Koundé under the sticks and then Marcos Alonso prevented the goals from Yuri and Zárraga. Barça took the three points home.
