17-year-old debutant Marc Guiu scored with just his second touch ever in La Liga to secure Barcelona a dramatic win over Athletic Club on Sunday evening.
The youngster was a surprise inclusion in the squad for this weekend’s game, and made the most of his chance at senior level when introduced in the 79th minute, racing through on goal before side-footing past Spain number one Unai Simon.
The win moves Barca to within just one point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid heading into El Clasico next week.
How the game unfolded
The link-up play between Ferran Torres and Joao Felix was notably eye-catching in the opening moments of the game, and almost resulted in a goal after just ten minutes. Having been found by a brilliant ball over the top of the Athletic Club defence by Inigo Martinez, Ferran burst into the penalty box and played a drilled pass into the path of Felix. The loanee’s first time effort on goal, however, could only find the top off the crossbar and ballooned over as a result.
Three minutes later, youngster Fermin Lopez came close to making it 1-0. The chance would once again come from some tidy wide play, this time from Alejandro Balde who raced down the left flank and pulled the ball back to Fermin just inside the box. Fermin was able to, unlike Felix, keep his first-time strike low and on target, but saw it be saved well by Unai Simon in goal.
Barca were almost made to rue those missed chance by the in-form Inaki Wiliams in the 20th minute, with the wide forward forcing Marc-Andre ter Stegen into a smart save with a stunning volleyed effort from the edge of the penalty area.
Ter Stegen was called into action by Inaki’s brother Nico on the stroke of half-time too. The Barca number stuck out his left leg to prevent the 21-year-old’s low hard strike from nestling in the bottom corner of the net.
Barca came out of the traps with real intent at the start of the second half, forcing Simon into two stunning quick-fire saves. The Spain number first dove down to save a Ferran shot, before reacting brilliantly to get a hand to Fermin’s follow up effort from just eight-yards out.
Just after the hour mark, substitute Lamine Yamal would miss a brilliant opportunity to give Barcelona the lead. The youngster was found well by Felix after a mazy run across the pitch, but with just the goalkeeper to beat, Yamal was unable to even hit the target – firing wide of the foot of the right post.
The goal would finally comed in the 80th minute through probably the most unlikely of sources.
In his Barcelona senior debut, and with just his second touch of the ball, 17-year-old Marc Guiu was found with a through ball by Felix and made no mistake with his finish from the right of the penalty area – side-footing under the body of Simon and into the net.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 7/10 – Made a few very good saves late in the first half to stop the Williams brothers.
RB: Joao Cancelo – 6/10 – Had a tough time of it at times defensively up against Nico, but got forward well when he got the chance.
CB: Andreas Christensen – 5/10 – Struggled to deal with the pace Athletic possessed up top.
CB: Inigo Martinez – 7/10 – His long passes out of defence were a joy to behold throughout.
LB: Alejandro Balde – 6/10 – Caused problems with his lung-bursting runs into the final third. Created the best chance of the first half.
CM: Gavi – 6/10 – Booked as per. Worked hard as per too.
CM: Oriol Romeu – 5/10 – Used the ball well when in possession, but caught a few too many times by Athletic Club’s pace in transition.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 7/10 – Barely put a foot wrong all evening so, in other words, a typical Gundogan performance.
RW: Fermin Lopez – 6/10 – Lively but just lacked a bit of quality when he got into the box, missing a few decent chances during the game.
ST: Ferran Torres – 6/10 – Linked up well with Felix at times, setting the Portugual star when he hit the crossbar early on.
LW: Joao Felix – 9/10 – The best player on the pitch. Bar none. At the heart of everything Barca did in the final third, setting up the winning goal late on.
Substitutes:
SUB: Ronald Araujo (’60 for Christensen) – 6/10.
SUB: Lamine Yamal (’60 for Romeu) – 6/10 – Missed a great chance to score when introduced.
SUB: Marc Guiu (’79 for Fermin) – 8/10 – Scored the winner and, judging by his celebration, thorougly enjoyed doing it.
SUB: Marcos Alonso (’79 for Balde) – N/A.
Manager – Xavi Hernandez – 7/10 – Not a great performance by his team, but ultimately Barca won the it because Xavi was brave enough to introduce a relatively unknown youngster up front late in the game. Xavi’s been brilliant at cultivating Barca’s La Masia talent since taking over, and Sunday was further proof of that.
Man of the match: Joao Felix (Barcelona)
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