An ineffectual Barcelona crashed to their first La Liga defeat of the season and failed to restore their three-point lead over Atletico Madrid at the top when they were beaten 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
Barca were without the injured Lionel Messi, who is not expected back until mid-January, and turned in one of their worst performances of the campaign against a fired-up Bilbao at the Basque club’s new San Mames stadium.
A miserable week for the Spanish champions, which included Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League loss at Ajax Amsterdam, went from bad to worse when Bilbao forward Iker Muniain stole in to net from close range in the 71st minute.
Barca barely mustered a shot on target against the Basques, with Brazil forward Neymar particularly disappointing, and it was only the second time in 15 matches this season they have dropped points after the 0-0 draw at Osasuna in October.
Gerardo Martino’s side are level with Atletico on 40 points following the Madrid club’s 2-0 win at promoted Elche on Saturday, while Real Madrid, whose 4-0 drubbing of Real Valladolid on Saturday included a hat-trick from record signing Gareth Bale, are three points further back in third.
Bilbao ended a streak of 14 win-less La Liga games against Barca and beat them for the first time since May 2006 to climb above Villarreal into fourth on 29 points.