Barcelona’s thrilling victory over Athletic Club on Sunday night was sealed by Marc Guiu, a 17-year-old rookie making his La Liga debut.

A late substitution allowed the kid, who had not been expected to make the team, to make the most of his first senior-level opportunity by sprinting through on goal and side-footing past Spain’s number one goalkeeper Unai Simon.

As El Clasico approaches next week, Barca’s victory brings them to within one point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid.

What happened during the game

After only ten minutes of play, the eyewitnesses were already captivated by the link-up play of Ferran Torres and Joao Felix, which nearly resulted in a goal. Ferran sprinted into the penalty area and smashed a pass into Felix’s path after being discovered by Inigo Martinez’s fantastic ball over the top of the Athletic Club defense. However, the loanee’s initial shot on goal hit the top of the crossbar and went over the goal.

In the third minute of play, youthful Fermin Lopez nearly made it 1-0. Alejandro Balde sped down the left flank and cut the ball back to Fermin inside the box, creating another opportunity for the team to score thanks to some neat wide play. Unlike Felix, Fermin kept his initial attempt on goal and low, but Unai Simon made a great stop.

In the 20th minute, Inaki Williams almost made Barca pay for their wasted opportunities with a magnificent volleyed shot from the edge of the penalty box that was saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

At the buzzer of halftime, Inaki’s brother Nico also had to call on Ter Stegen. The Barça player, who goes by the number 21, put out his left leg to block the 21-year-old’s low, powerful shot on goal.

Barca came out of the gates firing to open the second half, resulting in two incredible stops from Simon. The number one for Spain dove to his left to block a shot from Ferran, and then reacted superbly to his right to get a hand on Fermin’s follow-up attempt from eight yards out.

Substitute Lamine Yamal had a golden chance to put Barcelona ahead shortly after the hour mark, but he missed the target. After making a mad dash across the field, Felix found the kid in good position, but despite having only the goalie to beat, Yamal missed the right post with his shot.

In the 80th minute, from who would have been least expected, came the game-winning goal.

Marc Guiu, 17, made his senior debut for Barcelona with his second touch of the ball, and he promptly scored with a side-footed strike from the right side of the penalty box that went under the body of Simon.

Reviews of Barcelona’s Players

Marc-Andre ter Stegen, in goal, gets 7 out of 10 points for making some key stops in the first half to keep the Williams brothers quiet.

Backfield back Joao Cancelo (6/10) He had some trouble holding the defensive line against Nico, but he moved the ball proficiently when given the opportunity.

CB Andreas Christensen (5/10) had trouble keeping up with the fast ball movement of Athletic’s forwards.

Inigo Martinez, CB, 7/10 (Stanford). His defence-splitting long passes were spectacular.

LB Alejandro Balde (6/10): His lung-bursting sprints in the last third were an issue. Made the first half’s finest scoring opportunity.

CM: Gavi, 6/10, Scheduled as needed. as expected, I worked really hard.

Central Midfielder Oriol Romeu (5/10): Romeu made good use of the ball while in possession, but he was caught too often by Athletic Club’s quickness in transition.

7/10 CM: Ilkay Gundogan The evening was a classic Gundogan performance, with very few missteps.

6/10 RW: Fermin Lopez Exuberant, however he lacked finishing touch when he got into the box and missed a couple good opportunities.

Ferran Torres (ST): 6/10 – Linked up brilliantly with Felix, setting the Portugual star up when he struck the crossbar early on.

A 9/10 for LW Joao Felix The top performer in the team’s lineup. Absolute best. Barca’s go-to guy in the last third, instrumental in setting up the game-winning goal in stoppage time.

Substitutes:

Ronald Araujo (6/10) replaces Christensen (’60).

Substitute Lamine Yamal (in the 60th minute, replacing Romeu): 6/10, wasted a fantastic opportunity to score.

Marc Guiu, a substitute for Fermin in 1979, scored the game-winning goal and seemed to have a great time doing it.

Marcos Alonso came on for Balde in the 79th minute.

7/10 for Manager Xavi Hernandez. Despite a lackluster performance from his squad, Xavi was bold enough to start a relatively untested teenager in the forward position for the decisive Barca attack. Since taking over, Xavi has done a masterful job developing Barca’s La Masia potential, and their performance on Sunday was more confirmation of that.

Joao Felix of Barcelona was the game’s MVP.