Athletic did not have a shot on target, and Rodri got his Barcelona debut with half an hour left
Barcelona had 22 shots to Athletic’s five and won 2-0, Unai Simon made eight saves, and Rodri came off the bench in the 63rd minute for his first appearance since joining from Manchester City.
Aug 28, 2026
Athletic Club did not put a single shot on target at the Camp Nou on Thursday night. They had five attempts, none of which made Joan Garcia work, and they still only lost 2-0. That is the fairest summary of Barcelona’s evening: total control, and a scoreline that does not come close to describing it.
Raphinha again, and a long wait for the second
Raphinha got the first in the 37th minute, finding room inside the box and finishing it properly. It was his third goal in two league matches this season. Barcelona went in a goal up at half-time and should have been three or four clear.
They finished with 22 shots to Athletic’s five and ten on target to Athletic’s none. They had 70 per cent of the ball, completed 560 passes to Athletic’s 184, and won 12 corners. The expected-goals numbers came out at 3.91 against 0.25, which is roughly the gap between a training-ground drill and a competitive fixture.
The reason it stayed close on the scoreboard was Unai Simon, who made eight saves. Lamine Yamal hit the crossbar in the second half. Anthony Gordon, making his first start for the club, stood unmarked in the six-yard box during one first-half move and never got the pass. Fermin Lopez eventually made it 2-0 in the 82nd minute, 45 minutes after the goal that had already decided it.
Rodri came on with half an hour to go
Rodri made his Barcelona debut in the 63rd minute, replacing Raphinha, with Dani Olmo coming on for Marc Bernal at the same time. He joined this month from Manchester City in a deal worth around 76.5 million euros, and he walked into a game that was already settled and a midfield that did not need rescuing.
That is not the worst way to start. Barcelona spent the summer selling the idea that Rodri makes them harder to play through rather than prettier to watch, and a 63rd-minute introduction with a one-goal lead is a low-stakes way to find the rhythm of a new league. His real examination comes when Barcelona are behind somewhere unpleasant in November.
Hansi Flick keeps picking teenagers
Flick named four teenagers in his starting XI: Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Bernal and Xavi Espart. It has stopped being a talking point at this club, which is the interesting part. A side that has just made one of the most expensive midfield signings in its history still put four kids in the same starting XI and never looked like it was taking a risk.
Barcelona have won both league games, sit on six points with a goal difference of plus seven, and have now won 20 consecutive home matches in La Liga. That run covers every home game of last season, when they went 19 from 19 on the way to the title.
Athletic have lost both
Edin Terzic took the job this summer after Ernesto Valverde’s four seasons in charge, and his first two league games have brought a 3-1 home defeat by Sevilla and this. Two games, no points, minus four on goal difference.
The mitigation is obvious. Opening with Sevilla at home and Barcelona away is a fixture list nobody would choose, and Terzic is not going to be judged on either result. Simon’s eight saves were the difference between a defeat and a humiliation, and the next month will tell more about Athletic than Thursday did.