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Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic heads the ball in after a delightful cross.
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Barcelona
beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 at San Mames after Ivan Rakitic headed in from
the six yard box, running on to a perfectly-flighted cross midway
through the first half. Real Madrid secured its
place at the top of the pile by beating Celta Vigo 2-1 at the Bernabeu
with goals from Alvaro Morata and Tony Kroos.
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Earlier
on Sunday though, Las Palmas knocked in five goals against Granada
which saw it edge ahead of both Real Madrid and Barcelona on goal
difference.
Real Madrid has made an
impressive start to the season and has now won the last 14 league
games, and, according to the official website has gone unbeaten in the
first home match for 11 consecutive seasons.
With
Deportivo La Coruna only managing a 0-0 draw at Real Betis Friday and
Leganes also playing out a goalless draw at home to Diego Simeone's
Atletico Madrid, it gave Barcelona an opportunity to join the breakaway
group.
Ahead of the Sunday evening fixture, Barca manager Luis Enrique said the game at Bilbao would be a tough one.
"Playing at San Mames is one of the most difficult games we have on the road," he said on the club's website. "They
will make it tough for us to get the ball back when we lose it.
They
will create pressure up the field, and have dangerous players like Raúl
Garcia and Aduriz who are strong on the ball and in the air, not to
mention Inaki Williams when he's out on the wing and has the ball in
deep," he said. Elsewhere in the league, Villarreal plays Sevilla late Sunday.