Rodri made a winning return to LaLiga as Barcelona beat Athletic Club 2-0 at Camp Nou on Thursday thanks to goals from Raphinha and Fermín López.
World Cup-winner Rodri, signed from Manchester City for a total package worth €76.5 million ($89m) earlier this month, made his Barça debut off the bench after Raphinha’s third goal in two matches had given his side a 1-0 interval lead.
Barça spurned a number of chances and Athletic goalkeeper Unai Simón pulled off several top-class saves before Fermín sealed a second LaLiga win in five days for the reigning champions.
The result extended Barcelona’s home winning streak in LaLiga to 20 matches, its longest such run since winning 25 straight home games between Nov. 2012 and Jan. 2014;
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After undergoing minor back surgery following his exploits at the World Cup, where he won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player, Rodri was left out as Barcelona started the season with a 5-0 win at Elche on Sunday.
He began Thursday’s game on the bench as coach Hansi Flick started with four teenagers — Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí, Marc Bernal and Xavi Espart.
Raphinha had already struck a post with a header from Espart’s cross before giving Barcelona the lead in the 37th minute.
The Brazil forward raced on to Pedri’s slide-rule through-ball to skip round Spain goalkeeper Simón and tap home to continue his own strong start to the season.
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Simón, who conceded just one goal during Spain’s run to the World Cup title, made eight saves in total to keep the score down, while Yamal crashed a shot off the crossbar in the second half.
England forward Anthony Gordon, making his first start for Barça, also rifled a shot narrowly over two minutes after the restart before there were huge cheers for Rodri, as he stepped off the bench to warm up.
Even louder cheers greeted Rodri as he and Dani Olmo replaced Raphinha and Bernal in the 63rd minute.
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Barça got the game-clinching second goal in the 82nd minute. Athletic defender Aymeric Laporte failed to deal with substitute Karim Adeyemi‘s low cross and Fermín steered the ball home from two yards.
Athletic failed to have a single shot on goal as their winless run at Camp Nou extended to 16 matches.
ESPN Research and PA contributed to this report.
