FC Barcelona couldn’t dream of a better way to celebrate the return to its home. Saturday, 909 days after its last match at Camp Nou, the Catalan club played its first meeting in the completely renovated stadium, now called Spotify Camp Nou for naming reasons. And what could be better than a convincing victory to inaugurate this return? As part of the 13th day of La Liga, Barça dominated Athletic Bilbao (4-0), without ever showing any sign of weakness.
The show began in the 4th minute, when Robert Lewandowski scored the club’s first goal at this new Camp Nou. The Pole, still on cloud nine after his hat-trick in the last match, fired a powerful shot from the left that Basque goalkeeper Simon could only deflect into the back of the net (1-0, 4th).
The Blaugranas supporters quickly felt that victory would be achieved. Before the break, Ferran Torres won his duel with Simon on a perfect pass from Lamine Yamal, bringing the score to 2-0 (45th+3), for the first of his two goals of the day.
Barça provisional leader
The start of the second half was just as relentless. In the 48th minute, Fermin Lopez added to the score with a third goal from close range (3-0). A few moments later, Lopez was the victim of a totally inappropriate and frustrated kick from Sancet, who was sent off (50th), leaving the Basques ten against eleven for the rest of the match. Ferran Torres, in added time, on a new caviar from Lamine Yamal (4-0, 90th).
This large victory allows Barça to temporarily take first place in the ranking, pending Real Madrid’s trip to Elche on Saturday. With this inaugural success at the Spotify Camp Nou, between modernity and historical prestige, the Catalan club shows that it is ready to take full advantage of its new stadium for this La Liga season.
