Athletic Bilbao's Aritz Aduriz (L) and Markel Susaeta celebrate a goal by Mikel San Jose during their Spanish Super Cup first leg soccer match against Barcelona at San Mames stadium in Bilbao, northern Spain, August 14, 2015. REUTERS/Vincent West

For the second straight game, Barcelona gave up four goals.



For the first time all year, it looks like the Catalans will lose out on a trophy.

In a stunning first leg of the Spanish Super Cup, Athletic Bilbao hammered the reigning European champions 4-0 on the strength of a jaw-dropping midfield strike by Mikel San Jose and a hat trick from Aritz Aduriz.

The Spanish Super Cup is annually contested over two legs between the previous season’s La Liga and Copa del Rey winners. Since Barcelona won both earlier this year, Bilbao qualified for the Super Cup as runners-up in the Copa del Rey.

Bilbao was second to no one on Friday.

San Jose capitalized on a mistake by Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to open the scoring in the 13th minute. Ter Stegen took a risk by leaving his own goal box to clear a long ball back into midfield, and when his header fell to San Jose, the veteran Bilbao midfielder punished Barcelona:

With the Barcelona attack looking rather punchless by its standards, the defense needed to pick up the slack. Defending has never been Barcelona’s calling card during its recent run of unparalleled success, but the club's defending has rarely been so porous, too.

Aduriz’s hat trick exposed the mess in the back line, which featured Thomas Vermaelen, Marc Bartra and Adriano, three changes from Barcelona’s European Super Cup victory over Sevilla on Tuesday. Aduriz soared over Javier Mascherano to score his first goal in the 53rd minute, and he struck home a loose ball that Barcelona failed to clear in the 62nd minute before converting a penalty in the 68th.

Barcelona manager Luis Enrique brought on regular starting midfielders Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic in the second half, but the changes to his side changed nothing in the match.

Enrique and Iniesta are critical to the present-day iteration of Barcelona, which unleashes a barrage of build-ups and shots until the squad’s quality proves too strong to keep scoreless.

Only the attack didn’t deliver against Bilbao. Lionel Messi had a couple of good chances but couldn’t convert, while Luis Suarez didn’t even register a shot.

Despite the struggles of the defense, the failure to score could have sealed Barcelona’s Spanish Super Cup fate. An away goal would have been valuable with the second leg coming Monday at the Nou Camp, where Barcelona routinely crushes the opposition with a bevy of goals.

Instead, the Catalans will have to try to break open Bilbao’s back line in the same fashion Bilbao just broke theirs.



Bilbao did more than just that. It shoved Barcelona’s quest for a six-trophy year perilously close to the edge of a cliff.