Lamine Yamal help Barcelona secure 2-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao

Lamine Yamal got the better of fellow Spain star Nico Williams when Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Saturday in the players' first matchup since the two young talents led their nation to European Championship glory.

Yamal opened the scoring before Robert Lewandowski provided the second goal to give Barcelona two wins in two games to start the Spanish league season.

The Barcelona teenager struck in the 24th minute with a curling shot that was reminiscent of Lionel Messi's favorite moves. Yamal controlled a deflected ball, took two touches to skirt along the outside edge of the box before he found the angle to unleash a left-footed shot. The ball found the net after a deflection on Athletic player igo Lekue.

Yamal and Williams chatted before and after kickoff. Yamal would not reveal in a post-game interview what they talked about, saying we are just good friends.

But he did, perhaps half-jokingly, make a dig at his pal when he described his goal.

I saw that Nico, who is not very