Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Barcelona: 3 talking points | LaLiga 2019/2020

An acrobatic 89th minute spectacular strike by evergreen Athletic Bilbao striker Aritz Aduriz was enough to condemn Barcelona to an opening day defeat in the first match of their league defense.

The acrobatic volley was actually the first touch of the ball by the 38-year-old, showing the lack of decisiveness in Barcelona's play throughout the match.

The defeat Barcelona suffered means they have lost their opening game in a LaLiga season for the first time since a 1-0 loss to Numancia in the 2008/2009 season, but fans would take solace from the fact that the Catalans went on to win an unprecedented treble that term.

In this piece, we shall be highlighting three talking points from Barcelona's loss to Athletic Bilbao.

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#1 Barcelona struggled for incisiveness in the absence of Lionel Messi

FC Barcelona v Arsenal - Pre-Season Friendly

Lionel Messi resumed training later than his teammates due to his participation at the Copa America, but disaster struck on his first day back with the squad, as he suffered a calf injury and missed his side's trip to the San Mames.

The 32-year-old is unarguably the best player in Barcelona's illustrious history and has single-handedly decided the outcome of matches too numerous to mention.

Any side would suffer in the absence of Messi, and this proved to be the case against Athletic Bilbao, and even though there were a number of proven performers on the field, the Blaugrana simply failed to pull their weight against their hosts.

There was a lack of decisiveness about the Catalans' play, and despite having most of the possession, they lacked a cutting edge to truly threaten the Bilbao goal.

Their transition between midfield and attack was simply non-existent, with Messi's absence jarringly obvious for all to see.

In total, Barcelona managed to muster just two shots on target over the 90 minutes, and it is hard to imagine this happening had Messi been present.

Given the heightened struggles Barcelona experienced without the services of Lionel Messi, they would be hoping he would be fit in time for their next fixture against Real Betis.

#2 Subdued debuts for Antoine Grizmann and Frenkie de Jong

Frenkie de Jong did not have the best of times

When Luis Suarez suffered an injury in the 35th minute, extra attacking responsibility was placed upon the shoulders of Antoine Griezmann.

The French international had arrived Barcelona with a high reputation, but having struggled during pre-season, it was expected that he would spark to life upon his competitive debut for Barcelona.

However, that proved to not be the case, as Griezmann was a virtual passenger for most of the game, failing to offer any genuine threat to Barcelona's attacking output.

The 28-year-old spent most of his time tracking back to help in midfield at the negligence of his primary duties, with the result being that he failed to muster a single shot on target in 90 minutes in what was a largely forgettable debut for the former Atletico Madrid man.

By contrast, Frenkie de Jong had a splendid pre-season campaign, and was Barcelona's standout player and it was believed that he would bring this form with him to competitive action.

However, at the San Mames, de Jong was a shadow of himself, as the 22-year-old was largely overrun in the middle by the Athletic Bilbao midfielders.

Frenkie de Jong and Antoine Griezmann are undoubted talents, and they would need to put their poor debuts behind them quickly and showcase their abilities in Barcelona colours.

#1 Inaki Williams proves a handful for the Barcelona defense

Inaki Williams was in a confident mood against Barcelona

In the dying hours of the Premier League transfer window, reports emerged that Manchester United were interested in triggering Inaki Williams' release clause to bring him over to Old Trafford.

However, nothing concrete came of such reports, with the 25-year-old instead signing a contract extension with his hometown club.

Details of the deal revealed that Athletic Bilbao tied him down to an incredible nine-year deal, with a release clause valued at €135m.

The deal made Williams the player with the longest running deal in Europe, and buoyed by the confidence reposed in him by Bilbao, the striker entered the game against Barcelona in confident mood.

He had Jordi Alba on his backside inside the first three minutes of the game, while he proved to be a handful for Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet for the entirety of his stay on the field.

Inaki Williams forced Marc Andre ter Stegen into a number of saves in the match, while he also found it easy to get in behind the Barcelona backline.

Although he did not get a goal on the night with his replacement netting the all important winning strike, Inaki Williams' performance against Barcelona was deserving of one, and Bilbao can take solace in the fact that they have his services for the foreseeable future.