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Aritz Aduriz scored a stunning overhead kick moments after coming on as a late substitute to consign the champions to an opening-day defeat

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Fri 16 Aug 2019 17.49 EDTFirst published on Fri 16 Aug 2019 14.04 EDT
Antoine Griezmann of FC Barcelona.
Antoine Griezmann of FC Barcelona. Photograph: Soccrates Images/Getty Images
Antoine Griezmann of FC Barcelona. Photograph: Soccrates Images/Getty Images

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The match report is in so I’ll say goodbye. Aritz Aduriz was on the pitch for a total of three minutes. He had two touches and one shot, and with it produced the goal of a lifetime. What a hero. Goodnight and thanks for joining. It’s been a pleasure. I’ll leave you with this …

🇪🇸⚽ @LaLiga is back and with a bang! 💥

38-year-old Aritz Aduriz scored a stunning overhead kick to help @AthleticClub beat @FCBarcelona 👏#LaLiga #LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/sbP8DDiSDX

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) August 16, 2019
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What now for Barcelona? Messi is still injured. Suarez is likely to be joining him on the sidelines. Coutinho is going on loan to Bayern. Griezmann started very slowly. And Dembele still flatters to deceive. De Jong looked good and his revolving midfield partnership with Rakitic in the second half showed real sigs of promise. But Real Madrid and Atletico will be licking their lips now.

Some interesting facts about Aduriz and his goal …

15 - Aritz Aduriz has equaled Lionel Messi as the player to have scored in more #LaLiga seasons in a row ever (15). Hero pic.twitter.com/ap9axfnlBS

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) August 16, 2019

Aduriz scored the first #LaLigaSantander goal of the new season... 🦁

⚽ 2014/15 - Luis Alberto
⚽ 2015/16 - Salva Sevilla
⚽ 2016/17 - Juanpi
⚽ 2017/18 - Pires
⚽ 2018/19 - Roger
⚽ 2019/20 - ARITZ ADURIZ#AthleticBarça pic.twitter.com/CEh6XtJjzG

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) August 16, 2019

Pictures of Aduriz’s stunning volley have been painfully slow to emerge, but I have unearthed an image from Euro 2016 to give you an idea of his body shape. The result was not the same, but the execution similar …

Spain’s Aritz Aduriz lets fly with an overhead kick against Czech Republic in the Euro 2016 Group D match. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP

Simon McMahon didn’t think this would happen, no one did. “Evening Rob,” he wrote midway through the second half. “All things considered, I think Athletic Bilbao will probably be happy with a point. We can’t all be like Dundee United and beat the Catalans every time we play now, can we?”

Back to San Mames and the place is rocking. It wasn’t the greatest game and Barcelona looked the most likely winners but only one side had their brilliant talisman to call on. Lionel Messi could not have produced anything better than the sublime scissor-kick Aritz Aduriz unleashed after launching his 38-year-old frame high into the air in the 88th minute. The first goal of the season in La Liga might just turn out to be the best. The champions start with a defeat. The hero of Bilbao has cemented his legend for ever more. Let me know your thoughts.

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Bayern have also stuttered on day one in the Bundesliga. Can Coutinho save them? Andy Lynam has an update via email. “Despite Lewandowski’s VAR-assisted pen on 60 to save the game for Bayern, their inability to get the winner will give much succour to BVB and Leipzig,” he reports. “They should have had the game sewn up midway through the first half but Hertha’s double-strike before half-time really rattled them. Bayern dominated and are clearly stuffed with talent, but the game showed that their confidence is surprisingly fragile. Let’s see what Coutinho can add.”

I’m already looking forward to Sid’s column on Monday …

You’re 38. You’re in your last ever season. You’ve only got two minutes. And you’re up against Barça.

And?

— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) August 16, 2019

Woof, woof and woof again

— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) August 16, 2019
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That was an incredible finish to the game and provides a wonderful start to the season. This will be Aduriz’s final season. He is 38 years old and a legend at this club. But never can he have scored a better goal than that. Shades of Rooney’s legendary strike against City.

Capa is played into space down the right. The ball is bouncing but he caresses it first time into the centre. Aduriz, on the pitch for less than a minute, rises and unleashes a sensational bicycle kick. The ball arrows past Ter Stegen in a flash. What a goal. Simply stunning.

87 min: De Jong snuffs out the danger coolly when Capa escapes briefly down the right. Aduriz comes on for Williams. The crowd roar the veteran’s introduction. Can be be the difference maker?

85 min: The De Jong-Rakitic axis is working smoothly, maybe a sign of things to come over the season. But the cutting edge is lacking.

84 min: The Dembele-Alba combination releases the flying left-back into space. He pulls the ball back but Griezmann’s shot is blocked. The corner is recycled to Rafinha to cross but Griezmann’s tame header floats over.

76 min: Dembele comes inside and plays Alba into the space he has vacated on the left. Athletic clear. Barcelona bring on Carles Pérez for Sergi Roberto. Perez is a 21-year-old right winger who has only played 17 minutes of first-team football for Barcelona.

70 min: More Barca probing almost gives Griezmann his first sight of goal. Athletic get a foot in but the ball breaks to Rakitic. It’s a chance inside the box but he lashes over wastefully. The pressure is building.

Antoine Griezmann of FC Barcelona competes for the ball with Unai Lopez of Athletic Club. Photograph: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images
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68 min: Alba, Dembele and Rafinha combine nicely down the left but Athletic snuff them out. They hunt in packs, and make it very tough to break through.

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66 min: De Marcos is off and Oihan Sancet is on. The crowd go wild. They love a young player and clearly have high hopes for the 19-year-old midfielder.

Not everybody is impressed with Coutinho’s imminent move to Bayern. “Klopp said to Coutinho: ‘Stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour, leave and you’ll just be another player,’ emails Mike65ie. “He was right.”

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60 min: Pique is booked for a swinging arm into Raul Garcia’s face. The Barca man is incensed. It’s the first yellow of the game.

59 min: Barca win a free-kick 45 yards from goal. Dembele drifts it in and when it is headed out Rafinha lashes a first-time volley well wide.

58 min: De Jong is dropping between the centre-backs to start attacks from deep, in the style of Busquets. It has injected a bit of tempo into Barcelona’s play.

57 min: A huge punt forward from goal sends Williams clear of Lenglet. The angle is not great and the rapid forward’s effort is weak.

54 min: Lopez fires in a long ranger. It’s smartly hit but always going over. The action is hotting up.

53 min: This time Dembele creates something. A clever ball nutemgs his marker and allows Rafinha a sight of goal. The substitute drives towards the near post but it’s deflected wide off Nunez.

51 min: Pique pumps a very un-Barcelona like long ball forward. It’s cleared but comes to Demebele on the left. A couple of nice shimmies buy him space but again he plays a nothing ball.

49 min: Alba was exposed defensively a couple of times in the first half but a typical burst down the left wins a corner. Rakitic darts on to Dembele’s inswinging delivery but his flicked header has too much on it and drifts over the bar.

47 min: Rakitic has immediately started to dictate play, rolling the ball under his studs like his fellow Croatian Prosinecki used to, and playing probing first time passes into the front men.

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Coutinho to Bayern Munich is on! The Barcelona director Guillermo Amor has confirmed a deal is close. “We can confirm that there is an agreement in principle for the loan of Coutinho to Bayern,” he said before tonight’s match. “We just have to finalise the deal.”

The European transfer window is open until Monday. Follow all the deals across Europe’s top five leagues with our brilliant interactive …

Half-time emails

“Hope you’re doing well and apologies if this bothers with your live commentary,” writes Vikas Tripathi. “I am late to the party but please pass on my very best wishes to Nicky and congratulate her on her decision to come out. I’ve always found her work insightful and deeply enriching and I am looking forward to very much of the same. Cheers!”

“It’s half-time in the game I’m watching, Huddersfield v Fulham,” reports JR from Illinois. “No score in that one. They’re mostly just kicking each other. It’s pretty good. I thought I’d check in on this game. Has Suarez been looking hungry? And yes, by that I mean does it look like he might bite someone.”

Suarez was looking angry rather than hungry when he was forced off, JR. He may be biting into something now though.

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Half-time! It’s o-o at the break. Athletic Bilbao have been the better, more urgent side, but Barcelona have hit the woodwork twice. Crucially, though, they’ve also lost Suarez to injury, and Messi is not available. This could go either way.

44 min: Rafinha hits the junction of post and bar! He works a yard of space and wraps the inside of his left foot around the ball from way outside the area. Unai Simón is nowhere and the ball screeches against the woodwork. That’s very unlucky.

43 min: Griezmann pops up on the right. He’s looking brighter, but a pitch map of Inaki Williams’s runs show he’s on course to break record for yards covered. Y0u can see why Manchester United were interested.

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