Rakitic header earns Barcelona victory in Bilbao

TIL Desk Sports/ Ivan Rakitic’s first-half header maintained Barcelona’s 100 percent start to the La Liga season as the champions withstood a wave of late pressure to win 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao.

Rakitic finished off an excellent team move after 20 minutes, but with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez uncharacteristically wayward in front of goal, Athletic nearly grabbed a point when Benat Etxebarria’s free-kick flew just wide late on.

Barca join Real Madrid and top-of-the-table Las Palmas as the only sides with two wins from their first two games. Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid are already four points off the pace after disappointing draws against newly-promoted Alaves and Leganes. “The games here are always very similar,” Rakitic told.