Barcelona continued its resurgence and reclaimed fourth place in the Spanish La Liga standings, which qualifies for the upcoming Champions League, following a valuable and deserved 4-0 win against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday in the 26th round of the competition. Barcelona's tally rose to 45 points, achieving its third consecutive win across all competitions, and leads Atletico Madrid, who is in fifth place, on goal difference.
On the other hand, Athletic Bilbao's points remain stagnant at 37 in eighth place, suffering their seventh loss of the season. Gabonese star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 37th minute, continuing to find the net for the third consecutive match across all competitions. Frenchman Ousmane Dembélé and Dutchman Luuk de Jong added the second and third goals in the 73rd and 90th minutes, respectively.
Dutch forward Memphis Depay capped off the scoring for Barcelona with the fourth goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time in the second half. Thus, Barcelona maintained its outstanding form in recent matches under coach Xavi Hernandez, scoring 12 goals while conceding only 3 in the last 3 games across all tournaments. This four-goal match marked the third consecutive time they secured such a victory, having previously defeated Valencia 4-1 and Napoli 4-2 in the Europa League.
