Barcelona exacted revenge for their Spanish Super Cup defeat to Athletic Bilbao to get off to a winning start in La Liga thanks to Luis Suarez's solitary second-half strike.
Lionel Messi's troubles from the penalty spot continued as he saw a first-half spot-kick saved by
Gorka Iraizoz.
However, his strike partner ensured that miss didn't prove costly as Suarez volleyed home early in the second-half to hand the champions all three points.
Luis Enrique's men were returning to the ground where they were thrashed 4-0 in the first leg of the Super Cup just nine days ago and were without the suspended Gerard Pique, whilst Neymar wasn't fit to take part after just returning to training following a bout of the mumps.
Athletic were also missing a number of first-team regulars, though, and struggled to match their high-energy performances in the two Super Cup matches after also playing in the Europa League on Thursday.
After a quiet start the game burst into life when referee Carlos del Cerro Grande controversially pointed to the spot when Suarez went down under a challenge from Gorka Elustondo.
However, Messi failed to open the scoring from the resulting spot-kick as Iraizoz flew to his right to make a brilliant save.
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