How lucky that he finally got registered. Memphis Depay has left his mark at FC Barcelona for the first time. The attacker prevented de Blaugrana from going down at Athletic Bilbao with a nice debut goal – his winning goal went just wide.
Bizarre that after such a crazy first half there were no goals. Bilbao stunned Barça in the opening phase, but it was the visitors who, paradoxically, had the greatest opportunities.
Martin Braithwaite, for example. The Barça striker, after excellent preparatory work by Memphis Depay, went over incomprehensibly. A little later, the Dane would again play an unfortunate role. In a duel he made a (slight) foul on his attacker. Sour for Ronald Araújo, who kicked the ball into the goal with a phenomenal overhead kick… but saw his goal disallowed.
So bad luck for Barcelona, which also saw Gerard Piqué drop out with an injury on the half hour. The umpteenth that will make its appearance in the infirmary of Nou Camp, where Sergio Agüero, Ousmane Dembélé, Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho are also limping.
Oihan Sancet, incidentally, aimed Bilbao’s greatest chance before halftime against the bottom of the bar.
Depay Debut Goal
In the second half, however, both teams would show themselves efficiently. After 5 minutes, Iñigo Martínez finally scored the opening goal by heading a corner past Neto. Moments later, the De Barcelona goalkeeper would prevent Iñaki Williams from taking care of the 2-0.
A crucial save where Barça grabbed the lifeline with both hands. Especially the Dutch from the Blaugrana started the remonte. First a brilliant lob from Frenkie de Jong ended up against the crossbar, but compatriot Depay struck fifteen minutes before the end.
The attacker was the end station of a quick counter-attack from Barça. From a sharp angle he slammed the leather into the roof of the goal untenable. His first for the Spanish top club, immediately a memorable one.
And Depay almost crowned himself the match winner. 8 minutes before the end, a crossed shot zoomed just past the goal. Not a winning goal, but a saved point. Also thanks to Eric Garcia, who pulled the emergency brake at the broken Williams in the final phase.
Oh yes, the tireless Pedri – again at the kick-off – is finally allowed to rest. He gets two weeks of well-deserved vacation after the match in Bilbao.
