After some flight delays and turbulence Barcelona arrived a bit behind schedule to a rain soaked San Memés in Bilbao on Saturday looking to gain points on a Real Madrid squad who drew with bottom dwellers Levante earlier in the day. Bilbao were coming off a convincing 3-0 win against Mallorca earlier in the week and as always are a tough side playing at the cathedral.

Early on Barcelona were moving the ball brilliantly stretching the Bilbao defense wide on the rain soaked pitched but still seemed a slight bit off without Lionel Messi in the lineup. Their first opportunity coming in the 9th minute when Villa found Adriano on the edge of the box but his bending attempt just missed the upper right corner of the goal.

In the 12th minute Barcelona had their best chance to go up top when Andrés Iniesta found a streaking David Villa who found himself with a one on one against Iraizoz but his shot ricocheted off the right post.

With just 10 minutes remaining in the first half Athletic Bilbao found themselves in trouble when Amorebeita was shown a red card for his hard tackle on Iniesta. Now with Barça having a man advantage they began to push the ball up to expose the short-sided Bilbao squad but were unable to capitalize going into the break.

To begin the second half Guardiola’s men looked to exploit the man advantage and get ahead early. However it was Bibao who struck first in the 49th minute when Javi Martinez found the ball in front of him inside the box with only Valdes in his way but his shot went wide and hit the post.

Barcelona answered in minute 54 when a one-touch pass from Villa found Keita who had beaten the Bilbao defense and was able to poke the ball just under Iraizoz and in the back of the net for the lead.

A minute later Barcelona had a chance to go up by two but Pedro’s left footed attempt was blocked by the Bilbao keeper. Iniesta also had a chance of his own in the 64th minute but his one on one attempt was sent wide right of the goal and hit the outside post.

After numerous attempts on goal Barcelona finally got another past the Bilbao keeper in minute 74 coming off a shot by Xavi from distance that hit off the back of a Bilbao defender just enough to change the balls direction slightly and falling just underneath Iraizoz.

With just four minutes remaining in the match a frustrated David Villa let his emotions get the best of him and was given a red card for a push to the face of Carlos Gurpegi evening the sides with 10 men.

Following the ejection of Villa Bilbao were able to pull within a goal following a save by Valdes that had the keeper out of position and Pique unable to clear the ball as it was sent back in for Gabilondo to tap in.

In stoppage time Sergio Busquets put the match out of reach when Keita started a breakaway with a great pass down the line to Pedro who turned on the speed and found a wide open Busquets in the middle of the field and fired a laser into the upper left corner of goal and gave his side a much needed three points.

Following midweek Champions League action against Rubin Kazan, Barcelona will get back to work in La Liga action on Sunday against Mallorca without the services of David Villa and possibly Lionel Messi who is still recovering from an ankle injury.

Full match highlights here