BILBAO, Spain: Barcelona’s teenage star, Lamine Yamal, scored a beautiful goal to give Barcelona a 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in La Liga action earlier this morning.
The result allowed the defending champions to once again extend their four-point lead at the top of the league over Real Madrid, who had previously narrowed the gap after beating Celta Vigo yesterday.
Yamal curled a shot into the top corner of the goal in the 68th minute to separate the two teams at the San Mames Stadium after a tense match.
Barca coach Hansi Flick made several changes to his starting lineup ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 visit to Newcastle.
Following that, Barcelona displayed a lackluster performance in the first half with limited chances and the game far from their best performance.
Ferran Torres struggled in attack after a lacklustre start to 2026, while Athletic had some of the better chances in a lacklustre first half.
Joao Cancelo almost scored an own goal early in the game when the ball hit the goalpost, while Selton Sanchez managed to get past the defence but Barcelona goalkeeper Joan Garcia did a brilliant job of snatching the ball from him.
Ernesto Valverde’s team also managed to break through Barcelona’s goal before the break but Inaki Williams’ goal was disallowed after he was ruled offside.
In the second half, Barcelona demanded that Alejandro Rego be shown a red card after fouling Dani Olmo, while Athletic players demanded that Pau Cubarsi be sent off for bringing down Williams, but the referee only showed a yellow card in both situations.
Yamal, who was somewhat subdued throughout the first hour, finally broke the deadlock after successfully overcoming the tight control of Athletic’s defender, Adama Boiro.
Substitute Pedri passed to Yamal before Boiro slipped and the 18-year-old finished off the opportunity with a solid shot into the top corner that hit the post before diving in.
The goal was Yamal’s 19th in all competitions this season.