Lamine Yamal once again showed his ability to decide matches on Saturday when Barcelona’s teenage star broke the deadlock with a brilliant strike to secure a 1-0 win against Athletic Bilbao. The match saw Athletic attack in waves at the San Mamés stadium, with Yamal tilting the game in favor of the La Liga leaders.
The 18-year-old Spanish forward received a pass from Pedri Gonzlez and eventually left room to work on the right side of the area, opening up a shooting angle with one touch and curling his left foot into the top of the post.
his 19th goal
The winning goal in the 68th minute – his 19th goal in all competitions this season – kept Hansi Flick’s side four points clear of second-placed Real Madrid and on track to defend their domestic title. Last week, Yamal scored his first hat-trick in the league in a 4-1 win against Villarreal. The hard-fought away win at the Basque club came four days after Barcelona lost to Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.
Flick rested some of his regular starters ahead of Barcelona traveling to Newcastle to start their Champions League round of 16 match on Tuesday. Pedri, Rafinha and Fermun Lupez remained on the bench until the final 30 minutes. Marcus Rashford, Marc Bernal and Marc Casado started in their place.
Rick Garza and Ju Cancelo also started in place of injured fullbacks Jules Kound and Alejandro Balde.
Barcelona needed goalkeeper Joao Galka to keep the match scoreless until Yamal scored.
