Barcelona 4-0 Athletic Bilbao, La Liga HIGHLIGHTS: Dembele scores one, assists three as Barca routs Athletic Bilbao

The last play of the game sees Barcelona defend a corner. The referee ends the contest and it has been one way traffic at Camp Nou. Good momentum for the Catalans going into the Bayern Munich match in the Champions League. Dembele starred for the team. He scored the opener and then got three assists to follow. An injury to Gavi was the lone cause of concern for the home side. Barcelona moves back to within three points of leader Real Madrid. That is it from the live coverage! See you for the next game.

Bilbaoa had a chance as ter Stegen gave the ball away to Raul Garcia. The Barca custodian is off his line but Busquets blocks the first attempt from entering the goal. The rebound lands with Athletic but the subsequent shot is blocked off the line too.

The Barcelona right back seems to have caught an injury on his shoulder. Barcelona has made all five changes for the day and will have to close out the match with 10 players on the pitch.

In - Pablo Torre

Out - Dembele

Ferran Torres gets the ball in the opposition penalty area and he slots it home. Ousmane Dembele with yet another assist. This was his fifth of the season.

The midfielder fouls Lancet in the Barcelona half. He caught him from behind there’s no arguement over that one.

In - Raul Garcia, Vencedor

Out - Inaki, Zarraga

Another chance for Barcelona. Dembele cuts in plays a pin point through ball to Ferran. Ferran shoots on the first attempt but Unai Simon comes out of his line to block the attempt. Ferran plays the rebound back into the six-yard box but the ball is cleared.

ter stegen collects a cross from Nico and straight away distributes the ball out for a counter attack. De Jong enters the final third with the ball and plays it to Fati on the left. Fati has his plan set as he cuts inside and shoots. He connects well but the shot goes over the crossbar.

In - Torres, Fati, Alonso

Out - Lewandowski, Pedri, Kounde

In- Sanchet, Lekue

Out - Dani Garcia, De Marcos

The Bilbao managers cuts a worried figure as he stands in his technical area. Bilbao started on a positive not but have fallen back as the half has progressed.

That was a 4th goal begging to be scored. Roberto is through on goal from the right flank. He squares it, spotting the a run from Pedri. The midfielder strikes the ball, but it ricochets off the post and goes to a Bilbao defender. The ball is eventually cleared out of harm.

Barcelona builds an attack from the left, then switches play to Dembele on the right. The winger plays it to Roberto on the overlap and the right back crosses. The hit has too much power and goes for a goal kick.

The visitors have had the better share of possession in the opening minutes. Bilbao has controlled the tempo so far. It needs more of the same for any hopes of a comeback.

The game is back underway. No changes for either side. Barcelona has a Champions League game this week and would perhaps want to make some changes before the big clash.

Inaki Williams’ cross from the left is cleared by Pedri and that is the last play of the first half. Domination by Barcelona hs been the story of the first half. Though the match got underway at a simmered pace, Barcelona took no time to get the action going. Dembele scored the opening goal before assisting Roberto and Lewandowski. Valvered responded by bringing on Dani Garcia but not much changed for Bilbao in the remaining minutes. Gavi was forced to leave after he suffered an injury to his groin. Barcelona held a similar lead midweek against Villarreal but failed to score in the second half. Will it be a similar story in tonight? Back in 10 minutes to find out.

Busquets gives away the ball and Berenguer collects it. Bilbao has three players charging forward against three Barcelona defenders. Berenguer moves forward. Kounde faces him as he keeps falling back. The Bilbao players decides to shoot as he reaches the penalty area. ter Stegen dives to his left and gathers the shot with relative ease.

The 4th official raises the board to indicate five minutes of stoppage time. Barcelona is simply knocking the ball around. With three goal in 22 minutes, it has absolutely dominated the half.

Dembele dribbles past Berenguer and is on his way to the goal. He is in the box as he cuts further left. Dani Garcia stands firm and intercepts the ball. Dembele took too long to shoot.

Williams gets the ball on the right flank and tiptoes his way forward. He plays the ball around Balde and tries to outrun the Barcelona left back. Garcia brilliantly reads the intention and steps out of his place and reaches the ball before Williams.

Balde is caught in a spot of bother as he is pressed by two Bilbao players. He skillfuly keeps the ball at his feet and plays it to Pedri and the danger is cleared. Moments later is completes a take on against Yuri and crosses the ball to win a corner for Barcelona.

The medical team attended to the teenager but he cannot continue. He grimaces in pain with a hand over his eyes. He is clearly in pain. He might have done some serious damage to his groin. Camp Nou with a standing ovation as he leaves the pitch in tears. Kessie comes on.

Gavi has been fouled by Dani Garcia and lies on the floor in a heap. Xavi wants a booking for the Athletic Bilbao player. He is too strong with his appeal and Martinez Munuera walks up to the touchline and books him.

Barcelona is comforably sitting with the ball until Garcia’s pass to Balde lacks power and is short. Williams is on the right wing and he sniffs the chance to win the ball. Garcia, however, charges wide and cuts the ball back with a sliding tackle.

Lewandowski scores! Barcelona is running rampage at Camp Nou! Dembele is again at the heart of the move. He cuts in from the right side and plays the ball in the box to Lewandowski. The Polish striker takes a touch to cushion the ball, completes a turn and slams the ball into the net with his right foot. This is the second consecutive game where Barcelona has scored three goals in the first half.

Ander Herrera is replaced by Dani Gracia. This seems like a tactical change.

Sergi Roberto scores! That’s clinical from Barcelona. Roberto makes one of his trademark dashes from his own half. He plays Dembele to his right, puts his head down and keeps running. Dembele rightly plays the ball back to him on the overlap. Roberto is inside the Bilbao penalty area and shoots. The ball deflects off Inigo Martinez and goes into the net.

Dembele first takes on a defender and shoots from outside the box. Simon saves but Lewandowski collects the rebounded ball on the left flank. He crosses and the French winger is in the box by this time. He meets the ball and places it into the top right corner. Lewandowski is known for scoring goals, but here he is creating them as well.

Balde cuts in after beating two rival shirts and plays it to Lewa. The forward passes it to Dembele who is in the centre of the field. He is unable to spot an outlet but eventually dinks the ball over the gap for Gavi’s run. The ball goes slightly long even as Gavi dives to connect to it.

Dembele’s cut back into the heart of Barca midfield is up for grabs. Zarraga chases it but Busquets gets there before him. Zarraga rams into the back of the Barcelona holding midfielder and Barca wins a free kick.

Eric looks to play Balde from the back but he misplaces his pass, leading to a throw in for the visitors.

Inigo Martinez cuts a Dembele pass aimed at Gavi. But the Athletic player mishits a back pass to his keeper. Gavi pounces but as he is pulling the ball inside the touchline, he slips. Goal kick to Bilbao.

Balde played a ball to the forward who was making a run on the left side but he started a tad too early and the assistant raised his flag.

Barcelona starts the proceeding with the centre. Get Set Go! Barcelona seems to be playing with a 4-2-3-1 formation in the opening seconds.

Martinez Munuera is the referee for today’s game. VAR will be heralded by Gonzalez Gonzalez.

The Catalans are making their way to the field. So is the Basque side. The handshakes completed. We’re all set to go. Grab you popcorn folks!

Both teams are making their way into the tunnel before they walk out to the middle.

The Poland striker has scored 11 goals so far. The next best are Real Betis’ Borja Iglesias and Espanyol’s Joselu.

This will be the first outing for Ernesto Valverde since his sacking at Barcelona. The manager was unceremoniously removed from his post after the team failed to perform in the 2019/20 season. He also saw the two humilating defeats in the Champions League against AS Roma and Liverpool.

Played – 182

FC Barcelona – 91

Athletic Bilbao – 60

Draw – 31

FC Barcelona 4 – 0 Athletic Club

Athletic Club 3 – 2 FC Barcelona

Athletic Club 1 – 1 FC Barcelona

Athletic Club 0 – 4 FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona 2 – 1 Atheltic Club

The defending champion beat Sevilla 3-1 at home to take its lead over Barcelona to six points. The Blaugrana will have to win the match against Bilbao to cut the deficit back to three points.

Simon - De Marcos, Yeray, Martinez, Yuri - Herrera, Vesca - N. Williams, Zarraga, Berenguer - Inaki

ter Stegen - Roberto, Kounde, Garcia, Balde - Sergio, De Jong, Gavi - Pedri, Lewandowski, Dembele

The La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Athletic Club will be telecast live on Sports18 channel and can also be live streamed on Voot app/website.

The kick-off for the La Liga game between Barcelona and Athletic Club is at 12:30am on Monday, October 24 2022.

Barcelona will be bidding to make it back-to-back wins in La Liga when it hosts Athletic Bilbao at Camp Nou on Monday.

It pulled off a convincing 3-0 win over Villarreal during the week to fight off the El Clasico loss last weekend.

The Catalans are currently second in the table, three points behind leader Real Madrid, while Athletic occupies sixth spot, two points behind fourth-placed Atletico Madrid.

Athletic Club drew its last match against Getafe. It will be a return to his former employers for Bilbao’s manager Ernesto Valverde.