Defending champions Barcelona made it a possible six points out of six as they defeated Basque club Athletic Bilbao 1-0 to register the second straight victory of their 2016-'17 La Liga campaign.
Arda Turan, who started on the left in Neymar's absence due to his Olympic exploits, found himself in acres of space on the left-hand side after Luis Suarez had dropped deep and had passed it to the Turkish player. Turan dinked a lovely ball over for Ivan Rakitic, who made no mistake in heading the ball past Bilbao stopper Gorka Iraizoz.
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, who was named first-choice keeper after Claudio Bravo's move to Manchester City showed signs of nerves early on as he passed the ball directly to Benat Extebarria, who could only shoot the ball straight at Ter Stegen's face.
Barcelona created a lot of chances but could not take them as both Lionel Messi and Suarez missed opportunities to extend the lead. The domination of possession by the visitors meant that Bilbao could not muster up many chances to tie the game.
Brief scores:
Athletic Bilbao 0 lose to Barcelona 1 (Ivan Rakitic).