Twitter reacts as Athletic Bilbao draw 1-1 against Barcelona

Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Vidal, Rakitic, Sergi Roberto; Coutinho, Suárez, Dembélé.

Athletic Bilbao XI: Unai Simón, De Marcos, Yeray, Íñigo Martínez, Balenziaga; Dani García, Beñat, Raúl García; Susaeta, Yuri, Williams.

Final Score: Barcelona 1-1 Athletic Bilbao

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The 7th gameweek of LaLiga saw Athletic Bilbao turn up trumps against Barcelona as both teams salvaged a point, courtesy of a 1-1 scoreline at Camp Nou.

With 41 minutes on the clock, De Marcos gave Athletic Bilbao the lead. Raul Garcia and Dembele both went down after competing for a 50-50 which resulted in the ball bouncing to Susaeta. He was given all the time in the world to float a cross into the box for De Marcos, who sneaked in unnoticed at the back post to cushion a volley past Ter Stegen. Alba was completely unaware of the right-back's late run.

The scoreline remained unchanged for the next 40 minutes until Munir El Haddadi gave Barca some hope with his equalizer in the 84th minute, allowing La Blaugrana's long unbeaten home record to continue. Unsurprisingly, Messi was the key as he first darted down the right before cutting inside and driving an effort towards goal which Simon saved. Messi latched straight onto the rebound and fired a pass across goal, only for Munir to react well to convert it from close range.

As such, Athletic Bilbao held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw just days after the La Liga champions suffered an ignominious defeat at the hands of Leganes. The Catalan giants now stand atop the La Liga table having managed 14 points in 7 league matches this season.

Here's how Twitter reacted to the encounter.

Barcelona haven’t won since Messi lost the beard 🧔🤔 pic.twitter.com/VJFyOtLQM2

— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 29, 2018

8 - @FcBarcelona are the team with the most hits on woodwork in LaLiga this season (eight, six of them from Lionel Messi). Break. pic.twitter.com/w5lhrt1wb3

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) September 29, 2018

Correction: Messi gave Barca a career as a club. https://t.co/ajDOveeLxp

— M•A•J¹³ (@Ultra_Suristic) September 29, 2018

Valverde is nothing without Messi and there is nothing you can do about it.

— BlaugranaHome 🎗️ (@BlaugranaHome) September 29, 2018

Sunday - Barcelona 2-2 Girona Wednesday - Leganes 2-1 BarcelonaSaturday - Barcelona 1-1 Athletic BilbaoNext up, Tottenham Hotspur. pic.twitter.com/Ef5bP2Dd4i

— bet365 (@bet365) September 29, 2018

Pochettino will face Barcelona drooling with the prospect of dealing a killing blow, let’s hope he believes that and not that Spurs beating Barça might save the season.

— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) September 29, 2018

Against Barca and Madrid, Athletic Bilbao's Iñaki Williams is consistently the fastest player on the field. Dude's speed is impressive.

— Luke Thomas (@lthomasnews) September 29, 2018

Tottenham will completely thrash Barcelona if the team plays like this midweek.

— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) September 29, 2018

Sevilla in Supercopa, Huesca, Real Sociedad, Girona, Leganés, Athletic – Barcelona behind today for the sixth time this season in their ninth game in all competitions. Not good enough. #BarcaAthletlic #FCBlive

— Ben Hayward (@bghayward) September 29, 2018

Valverde should be sacked, here are the board’s options we can expect if he goes: MourinhoDavid MoyesBig Sam Allardyce

— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) September 29, 2018

Barcelona signing Arsene Wenger midseason would at least be interesting.

— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) September 29, 2018

One point gained 🙌🏽🙏🏽 Valverde masterclass yet again

— Barcastuff (@barcasstuff) September 29, 2018

One of the most inept and stupid coaching performances I have ever seen by Valverde. If he had any self respect, he would step down immediately.

— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) September 29, 2018

Suarez: “We can’t just rely on Messi to come on and solve things."Ouch.

— M•A•J¹³ (@Ultra_Suristic) September 29, 2018

If only Messi had started tho. Resting him in September makes little sense

— Isco_fan (@realmohamed1) September 29, 2018

Valverde's substitutions were trash. By substitutions I mean Vidal was obviously on better form than the rest. Keep the man, you clown

— Ahmad (@ahmadf_o) September 29, 2018

*A new player has a great game*Valverde: "This is the ideal time to sub him off."

— Sᴇʀɢɪ's Rᴜɴs ☢️ (@Robertonical) September 29, 2018

Valverde rested Messi and Busquets, leading to a disastrous performance, forcing the entire team to get unnecessarily tired pursuing a win (and failing) until the final minute. What a mess.

— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) September 29, 2018

Our chances to win something this season without Messi is literally none. pic.twitter.com/2aJ7GGzzaj

— infosmessi (@INFOSMESSl) September 29, 2018

Shades of Barcelona under Martino at its absolutely worst right now. Shocking.

— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) September 29, 2018

Crazy how even with a team that has Coutinho, Suarez, Dembele, Vidal, etc. that the difference with Messi and without Messi was basically night and day. If Messi had started, Barcelona win this game for sure.

— EiF (@EiFSoccer) September 29, 2018

We are beyond shit, I'm sorry. No system in place whatsoever. Pass it to Messi and see what happens. And he almost managed to win this game single-handedly in the end. This game was the perfect example of where we are right now. Absolute shambles.

— Josip 🎗️ (@jperkovic93) September 29, 2018

A future without Messi really is the bleakest of panoramas for Barcelona. But he is 31 and that moment is unfortunately edging ever closer...

— Ben Hayward (@bghayward) September 29, 2018

What are your thoughts on the clash? Sound off your opinions in the comments section below!