Barcelona forward Neymar Jr was full of praise for Athletic Bilbao players after they slipped to a slim 1-2 loss to the Catalan club on Wednesday in the first leg of the last-8 round of the Copa Del Rey.
Barcelona’s goals in the tension-soaked encounter were scored by youngster Munir El Haddadi and Neymar while Aritz Aduriz scored the Basque side’s consolation goal in the game.
The game which saw a lot of physical football from Bilbao was a huge improvement on the 6-0 bashing they suffered when the two teams met over the weekend.
Speaking after the game, Neymar stated:
“Some tackles are normal and others aren’t, but that’s why there’s a man with a whistle out on the pitch. I think that the refereeing was normal.
They’re a good team and have players capable of deciding a game. That goal could still complicate things for us, but we had a good game and now face the return leg at home”.