The Croatian substitute, Ivan Rakitic, saved Barcelona from falling into the draw for the second consecutive game and led them to a clean victory with Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday in the thirty-first round of the Spanish Football League.
Barcelona raised its score to 68 points, to be alone at the top of the League table temporarily, but its traditional stubborn opponent can regain the lead by direct confrontation difference if he won any victory over Real Mallorca today, Wednesday in another match in the same round.
The two teams made an intermediate offer to end the first half with a negative tie, which remained in place until just three hours before the end of the match, despite Barcelona's possession of the ball more and its ineffective control of the course of the game.
In the 71st minute, Rakitic, who played from the 64th minute, took advantage of an organized attack by Barcelona and fired a strong ball from inside the penalty area to embrace the net and declared Barcelona victory with three precious points, while Bilbao scored 42 points in the tenth place, knowing that it was his first defeat in the last six games he fought in the competition.