San Mamés holds Barça

Athletic Club and FC Barcelona have drawn 1-1 in the 21st round of league matches. A first half goal from Bojan (34th minute) was not enough to bring Barça their fourth win in a row. Barça failed to continue their winning streak at San Mamés. A first half goal from Bojan put Barça ahead, but they were unable to find a second. And tragedy struck in the 78th minute when Athletic equalised, putting a stop to Rijkaard’s excellent start to the year.

Cautious start
The early moments of the game saw Athletic well positioned on the pitch and Barça, despite enjoying most of the possession, unable to find a way through. It was an intense match but chances were slow in coming, with neither of the two teams getting close to each other’s goals.

Bojan opens fire
Mistakes were being made all over the pitch, and the game took a good half hour to really get going. Aduriz found himself one on one with Valdés but his shot went over (min 33). Just a minute later, after almost going a goal down, Barcelona went ahead. Messi failed to get on the end of a through ball, but it was enough to trouble Aranzubia, whose clearance only made it as far as Deco, who laid up Bojan to finish the move with an angled left foot shot that went straight into the back of the net to silence San Mamés.

After those two minutes of mayhem, the game reverted to the slow and steady pace of before, and there were no further incidents before the break.

Almost 0-2
20 minutes into the second half, Henry sent what could have been Barça’s second wide. Another chance went begging minutes later, when Deco put his effort over the bar. All of the most dangerous Barça attacks seemed to be coming through Leo Messi, as effective as ever on the right wing.

Chances each way
But these chances did little to demoralise the home side, who gradually started enjoying more and more of the possession. But one of the few real chances to come of it, from Javi Martínez in the 55th minute, was impeccably saved by Valdés. Barça only had the one chance of their own, which Puyol failed to take advantage of (min 70).

Home recovery
Edmílson came on for Xavi in the 63rd minute as Barça came under more and more threat. Caparrós adventurously sent on strikers Llorente and Aitor Ramos, plus attacking midfielder Garmendia. But none of the new arrivals were able to create anything of note until the 78th minute, when a Garmendia cross from the right led to a tussle between Llorente and Thuram that saw the ball end up in the net. 1-1, and a heavy blow for Barcelona.

The final minutes saw both sides surging forward in search of a win, but nothing came of it. The game ended with honours even and Barça have missed out on what would have been their fourth league win in a row.



THE GOALS :

0-1, Bojan (min 34)
1-1, Llorente (min 78)