COMMENT: Luis Enrique's side made light of a potentially tricky fixture with a comfortable 5-2 win at Athletic Bilbao to move to within a point of their fierce rivals in La Liga
By Ben Hayward | Spanish Football Writer
Crisis? What crisis? Since losing at Real Sociedad on January 4 and the well-publicised fall-out between Luis Enrique and Lionel Messi, Barcelona have now won their last nine games. They overcame a tough test with three points at San Mames on Sunday to close in on Real Madrid. Harmony restored; title hopes revived.
Barca have struggled at Athletic Bilbao in recent seasons, having been held to an entertaining 2-2 draw in Pep Guardiola's last season, tying again with the same scoreline under Tito Vilanova in 2012-13 and then losing out by a single goal with Tata Martino on the bench last term.
But there were no such problems this time around. Athletic gave it a good go early on but the Leones were soon tamed by a slick Barca side, with Messi's deflected free-kick giving the Catalans the lead and Luis Suarez adding a second from the edge of the box after he had previously seen a point-blank header saved by Gorka Iraizoz.
In the second half, Mikel Rico restored hope for Athletic with a close-range effort after Claudio Bravo had saved from Aritz Aduriz, but Barca responded almost immediately and Oscar de Marcos turned Messi's effort into his own net before Neymar subsequently added another.
Constantly questioned earlier this season, all three of Barca's South American forwards were on target for Barca again on Sunday. They have taken their time, but Messi, Suarez and Neymar are clicking into gear as a trident and that is great news for Luis Enrique.
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