Barcelona crashed to their first La Liga defeat of the season when they were beaten 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao to lose their three-point lead over Atlético Madrid at the top of the table.
Barça were without the injured Lionel Messi, who is not expected back until mid-January, and turned in probably their worst performance of the campaign against a fired-up Bilbao.
A miserable week for the Spanish champions, which included a 2-1 Champions League loss at Ajax Amsterdam, ended on a worse note when Bilbao’s Iker Muniain turned in a Markel Susaeta cross in the 71st minute.
It was only the second time in 15 matches this season that Barcelona have dropped points and they are level with Atlético on 40 after the Madrid club’s 2-0 win at promoted Elche on Saturday.
Real Madrid, whose 4-0 drubbing of Real Valladolid on Saturday included a hat-trick from Gareth Bale, are three points further back in third.
Barcelona had not suffered consecutive defeats since March. “This game had nothing to do with the one at Ajax,” said the Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets. “Two losses have come in a row, but we have to keep going forward. Sure we made mistakes, but we also did things well. We played a good, wide-open game against a great rival that knew how to pressure us.”
Gerardo Martino’s team has won once and lost twice since Messi suffered a left hamstring injury.
*http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHxcGbNN-RnZMkVZYg5qkT39QZsbQ&url=http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/01/athletic-bilbao-barcelona-first-defeat
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