3️⃣ points on Barcelona's shock opening night defeat in Bilbao | OneFootball

Barcelona paid the price for a poor performance when they were stunned by a late Athletic Club goal in Friday’s LaLiga opener at San Mamés.

Here are three points of interest from a very interesting night of football …

Lionel Messi is too important for Barcelona

Absolutely any club in the world would miss a player of Messi’s almost unparalleled quality. Any club.

But for this Barcelona, the Argentine’s presence is the difference between a top class team and an average one.

Barça looked decidedly ordinary throughout this contest without their talisman and even though they hit the woodwork, anything more than a draw would have flattered their performance.

Their rhythm wasn’t helped by an injury to Luis Suárez in the first half but new signing Antoine Griezmann was virtually anonymous, Ousmane Dembélé looked lost and substitute Rafinha was unable to pick the Athletic lock.

It remains to be seen how long that calf injury will keep Messi out for, because his team needs him badly.

This could be Iñaki Williams’ season to shine

It’s hard to believe that prior to January this year, Athletic’s No9 went a whole two years without scoring a home goal.

After signing a new contract earlier this week that will keep him at San Mamés until 2028, the 25-year-old came flying out of the traps in this game and caused Barça’s defence all manner of problems with his pace in the early stages.

Like the rest of his team-mates, he faded as the game wore on, but this may have been a very early sign that he’s about to explode in the coming campaign.

According to reports, Manchester United were interested in Williams before the Premier League transfer window closed and if he plays his cards right this season, a few other big clubs might be tempted to trigger that €135m release clause in the coming months.

A word too for 38-year-old Aritz Aduriz, who scored a sensational bicycle kick to win the game just 30 seconds after coming on as a substitute.

Ernesto Valverde is already under pressure

It feels extremely harsh to condemn a manager who won back-to-back LaLiga titles in his first two seasons at Camp Nou just one match into his third term, but this is Barcelona and many of the fans are not happy with their coach.

The stinging disappointment of last season’s Champions League elimination is still very raw and there is currently a sense that – despite the titles – Barça have actually regressed under Valverde.

San Mamés is one of the toughest stadiums to visit in LaLiga but the visitors didn’t put in the kind of performance you’d expect from reigning champions.

They were toothless in attack, disorganised defensively and Valverde’s tactics and substitutions left many onlookers scratching their heads.

Frenkie de Jong’s debut performance was a small positive to take from a dismal evening for the Blaugrana but Valverde can ill afford too many where that came from if he plans on sticking around for the long term.

They’re up against Betis next Sunday, and that won’t be easy either.