Barcelona started the season as it concluded last. No game. Without soul. Defeated. And with Gerard Piqué trying to hunt some as center forward. The fall in the twilight against Athletic in San Mamés on the first day of the League - the Catalans did not lose in the league premiere since 2008 - abounds in past doubts. Without the rebellion plotted by Ernesto Valverde , with Busquets and Rakitic sharing a bench for Sergi Roberto and Aleñá to escort De Jong , he offered revenues in an irrelevant center of the field in the face of Bilbao pressure.

"The competition has put us in its place. It wasn't us. We were squeezed a lot and one detail at the last minute ... This defeat will go well for us in the future. It's better to lose now than at the end of the season. When not you are well painted your face, "Piqué cried at the conclusion of the match, and after having faced Dembélé before his poor defensive rigor in the goal of Aduriz. "In the last minutes we have to be much more attentive. We can get the batteries," said the central.

There was no more to observe how Valverde gestured during the course of the duel. Desperate, insistent in the corrections to Aleñá -which he replaced after the break by Rakitic-, and without finding remedy or to the pressure of the rival in the first half, nor to the bland possession of the second, the technician no longer knew where to look. When the defeat was confirmed, and with the Rafinha transferable as the only board in the ocean, the coach tried to find some explanation for what happened. And in his argument, the absence of Leo Messi was not capital.

"When Leo has not been there we have also made great games. It is inevitable to miss him in games like this, when you live in the area and someone has to finish the plays. But it is also true that we need other things. More unchecking. More depth. You have to be decisive and transform possession into goal occasions, "said Valverde, an eternal suspect.

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