Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao, Live Score and Commentary, Copa del Rey, Round-of-16, 2nd Leg

PEEP! PEEP! Full time!

BARCELONA 3 - 1 BILBAO (4-3 on aggregate)

There's no shame in losing to goals Messi, Suarez and Neymar.. and the Basques can go home with their heads held high.

Barcelona played in second gear most of the 90 mins, but turned it on when needed and let out a statement of intent to everyone in Spain - write them off at your own bloody risk. Suarez and Neymar now remember what scoring feels like, and Messi is enjoying his football. That's a potent darn combination.

It was a pleasure bring the match to you - and thank you for reading.

Anirudh Menon signing out.. have a wonderful night's sleep.

Toodle-ooo.

93' pass-pass-pass-whistle

92' Barcelona get the ball back from a Bilbao punt forward and they go pass-pass-pass

91' Three minutes to be added on and Messi takes the ball to the corner - no one is taking the ball off him - but the Argentine gets bored and offloads it to Rakitic who finds Roberto who in turn passes it to Suarez who is in ACRES of space. The Uruguayan unselfishly rolls it into the feet of Denis Suarez, but the young man flashes it over the bar. The senior Suarez is not best pleased. Unselfishness and all is okay - but you better finish when he gifts you a chance!

89' Inaki Williams is still full of running, and tries to get in behind Sergi Roberto, but the experienced head of Gerard Pique is covering behind him. Just as Puyol used to do so for the young Pique. Ah! It's so nice to see someone mature in front of your own eyes neh.

88' The Turk would start at any other club in Spain, but then no other club in Spain has a strikeforce that reads Messi Suarez Neymar.

87' Athletic are going route-one now, and there's nothing wrong with that - but Benat's long ball is just too much for Balenziaga to bring under control. Meanwhile another standing ovation for a surprisingly under-par Andres Iniesta (he always deserve a standing ovation, though) and on comes Arda Turan.

86' Neymar gets a standing ovation as he gets substituted for Denis Suarez. I suspect that was Lucho's intention - to let the Brazilian know just how much the fans love him. If the smile on Neymar's face is any indication, he knows it.

83' Bilbao are still in with a shout, a very faint shout, but they should not just give up the ghost. And they aren't doing anything of the sort... but Susueta gets marshalled away by Pique - and the ball is back in the visitors' third in the blink of an eye.

82' Boveda smacks a ball into the Barca box, but Aduriz cannot get the ball under his spell.

81' In between all that, I forgot to mention that Rakitic had come on in place of Rafinha. Not a half bad substitution to make eh.

80' ya Neymar, ya Neymar, ya Neymar. The Brazilian showed some astonishing twinkling feet as he sent three Basque defenders sliding all over the Camp Nou turf before smacking the ball gainst the post from all of five yards! ya Neymaaar!

79' Messi is stopped the only way he can really be stopped; illegally, by Benat - and the little Basque is lucky not to be heading into an early showe after he got booked just a few minutes ago.

78' Substitution for Atheltic as they go in chase of a goal or two.. Saborit gets subbed off for Susueta

Athletic sought trouble, and trouble did find them. Messi does NOT miss three straight opportunities as he arrows the kick into the bottom corner. That caught everyone one out! WHAT A PLAYER THIS MAN IS

76' GOOOOOOOOOOOAL! GOL! GOL! GOL! Lionel Andres Messi!

75' OOO Suarez gets bundled over by Benat and this is the third free kick that Athletic have conceded in Leo Messi territory. This is just asking for trouble.

73' Barcelona continue their patient probing. There is something truly admirable about the way they go about their business regardless of the situation, neh? Frustrating at times, but admirable nonetheless

72' Elmundo goes into the book for a hoof at the back of Neymar's leg - well deserved yellow that. For all the stick that Neymar gets for diving, we must also acknowledge the fact that he does in fact get kicked around like a rag doll

67' Luis Suarez hammers a shot at goal, but unusually for him he had hesitated before pulling the trigger - and that's well wide. These Barca superstars all look like they are not at a 100%... and that could cost them today.

66' Phew! What a series of passes that was from Barca. Neymar's golden first touch, Leo Messi's turn of pace and Iniesta's velcro-on-the-boots dribbling all featured in that - but nothing comes off it.

65' Barcelona are playing with the unhurried assurance of a team that knows it can win - but there is something wrong with Iniesta today, and the great man misplaces yet another through ball to Jordi Alba. It's almost painful watching him lose possession like this!

64' Laporte pumps it long to Balenciaga, but Pique is there in support of Roberto, and he pumps it clear.

63' Iniesta and Busquets lull Bilbao to near-sleep with their passing, before moving the ball on to Neymar - who receives, turns and shoots in one graceful motion.... But Irazoiz has it covered

60' Iniesta tries to accelerate through the middle in that incredibly elegant way of his, but Laporte is not going to be beaten tonight. Jordi Alba tries to disprove that by driving in, and hammering a shot with his right foot, but it's a hammering only in his mind, and the ball rolls into the arms of Irazoiz

59' The corner, as is the norm with Barca, is wasted. Boveda then tempts the ref to pull out another card with a professional foul on Neymar - but for now it's 11 v 11

58' OH MY LORD! WHAT AN INTERCEPTION FROM THAT MAN LAPORTE! Mesis powered down the right byline and passed it into the six-yard box where Suarez waited - sure that he was going to get his second, but a sliding leg from the Basque talisman cut the ball out!

57' OW LEO MESSI! The Argentine wizard finds Neymar with a delicious crossfield ball, and Neymar digs it to the far post. After fencing with Laporte for a bit, Suarez works the space for shot, but it;s well wide.

55' The Frenchman then goes back to his comical side by slicing a cross in from the left out for a corner. Strangely Bilbao play it short and waste the opportunity to bring their undoubted aerial superiority into play

54' The kick is taken short to Williams, but Alba is alive too the danger and cuts it out. The ball pinballs around the box, and Benat has the opportunity to shoot, but Umtiti blocks bravely,

53' BIlbao have been roused by the goal, and Laporte does exceptionally well to win the ball off Messi and kickstart a passing move that would have made their opponents proud. Obviously Barca don't like people doing to them what they do to others - and Busquets goes diving in to concede a foul

Athletic are still very much in the game! Williams initial cross was blocked by Jordi Alba, but Benat ran in and put it deep where Saborit absolutely dominated Sergi Roberto in the air to plant a header into the back of the net.

GAME ON!

51' GOOOOOOOOOL! GOL! GOL! GOL! GOL! GOL! SABORIT!

50' That particular pattern comes to an abrupt end when Suarez strays offside.

49' A misunderstanding between San Jose and Irazoiz gifts Barcelona a corner, and from said set piece the men in blue and red set about wearing their hypnotic passing patterns around Bilbao's box.

It was excellent work from Neymar to win it in the first place as he tricked both Laporte and Boveda to slide in - and take him out in the process - inside the box. From the kick, he calmly sent Irazoiz the wrong way - what class from Messi and Suarez to let their goal-starved colleague the pen, eh?

47' GOOOOOOL! NEYMAR!!

46' PENALTY FOR BARCA! NEYMAR WINS IT!

PEEP! We're off again!

Aritz Aduriz has jogged on to replace Sebin Merino! GAME ON!

Just to run you guys through the scenarios - should the score remain the same, Barca go through.
Should Bilbao score one, Barca need two more to stop it going into extra time
Should Bilbao score more than one, Barca should score two more

Let's all pray for a 5-3 scoreline, please?

Surprise, Surprise, Barcelona have had 67% of the possession.

PEEP! PEEP! HALFTIME!

Barca lead the tie on away goals now (2-2 on aggregate), and have been full value for their lead on the day. They have been the only side that has looked likely to score, and if not for some iffy refereeing should have gone into the break two up.

Suarez has re-found his scoring boots (seriously, what a volley), and Neymar & Iniesta look incisive. Leo Messi is being Leo Messi - and that usually means only thing... A Barcelona victory.

46' Barca marshall the ball safely away from Williams - and with that the ref blows his whistle

One minute to be added on

45' Leo Messi is doing what he wants now. He does a give and go with three different players before feeding in Jordi Alba. The marauding left back lifts it to the far post, where Bilbao are forced to concede a corner. Nothing comes of it though

43' Suarez, just for the record, has now scored 100 goals for Barcelona in all competitions. What a goalscorer.

42' Inaki Williams is still causing all sorts of bother down the Barca left, but this time Jordi Alba joins forces with Umtiti - and Barcelona tiki-taka their way out of trouble in the most delightful manner. The crowd are still singing the praises of Pique.

41' It's a carbon copy of his earlier effort.

40' Sergi Roberto tries to feed Suarez down the line, but nothing doing. Busquets gets the ball back and tries to play in Leo Messi with a nice little ball - but Laporte hauls the little man down. He's lucky to escape with a yellow - there was no one but the goalkeeper behind him! Another free kick in Leo territory, though.

39' Williams and Merino are playing as strike partners now - the camera pans to Aduriz, and he looks as surprised as that he is on the bench. Meanwhile on the pitch, Iniesta plays a rare miss-pass that runs straight out of play

Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao, Live Score and Commentary, Copa del Rey, Round-of-16, 2nd Leg

Barcelona 3 - 1 Athletic Bilbao (Suarez, Neymar, Messi; Saborit)... Aggregate score BAR 4 - 3 BIL