Athletic Bilbao scored twice in the first half to win FC Barcelona 2:1 in the Copa Del Rey round of

Athletic Bilbao scored twice in the first half to win FC Barcelona 2:1 in the Copa Del Rey round of 16 first leg.

Athletic Bilbao 25th and 28th minutes goals saw them win FC Barcelona 2:1 in the round of 16 Copa Del Rey first leg in San Mamés stadium.

Aritz Audiriz got the first goal for the Bilbao club with a header from the left side of the six yard box to the bottom left corner assisted by Raúl García with a cross after Andres Iniesta failed to find his pass in the midfield that triggered a quick break. With Bilbao high pressing forcing FC Barcelona to make lots of mistakes, Inaki Williams made no mistake as his right footed shot from the right side of the box to the high centre of the goal found the back of the net assisted by Aduriz.

The game became more physical after Athletic Bilbao’s second goal and Aritz Audiriz was lucky not to see a red card in the 37 minutes after he extended his arms to the throat of Barcelona Defender Samuel Umtiti who was left helpless on the ground in an intentional way as was seen on the television replay.

Barcelona had a penalty appeal and a chance to pull one back when Neymar was brought down in the box before the break but the referee waved for play on as the first half ended 2:0.

Second half started and Athletic Bilbao continued with the high pressing game which forces Barcelona to keep passing the ball back to their keeper to play a long ball out.

Though Barcelona managed to have possession but the were not dangerous in the final third. Messi pulled one back in the 52 minutes from a free kick with a left footed shot to the top left corner after Neymar was brought down by Raul Garcia and they became more determine for another.

With more pressure going to Bilbao this time, the were force to make lots of errors and commit more fouls.

In the 74 minutes Raul Garcia received a red card following his second yellow card of the game for another bad foul on Neymar Jr. and the team was reduced to 10 men with 16 minutes to go.

In the 80 minutes Iturraspe was also sent off following a second yellow on his bad foul on Neymar Jr. and Bilbao was reduced again to 9 men with 10 minutes to play.

Barcelona kept mounting pressure and Lionel Messi hits the left post with a right footed shot from the centre of the box assisted by Gerard Piqué. Paco Alcácer missed his left footed attempt as his shot from the right side of the six yard box went to the right following a corner in the 90+4 minutes and the second half ended 2:1 in favor of Athletic Bilbao as they defended to the end.

Statistics for this report was gotten from ESPN website: