BILBAO, SPAIN
\nLa Liga champions Barcelona celebrated a successful season with a 3-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday in their final match, with Robert Lewandowski netting twice to pass his 100 goal milestone for the club.
\nThe veteran Polish forward, 36, reached 27 league goals for the season, although he finished behind Real Madrid\u2019s Kylian Mbappe on 31. Barcelona wrapped up a domestic treble with Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cups wins, while fourth-place Athletic also had a fine season and returned to the Champions League for the first time in 11 years.
\nAthletic defender Oscar de Marcos made his 570th and final appearance for the club, behind only Jose Angel Iribar, a goalkeeper who played 614 times in the 1960s and 70s, in the club\u2019s history. Even Iribar might not have saved Lewandowski\u2019s opener after the striker was fed by Fermin Lopez, brilliantly scooping over current Bilbao goalkeeper Unai Simon to put Barca ahead and rack up the Catalans\u2019 100th league goal of the season.
\nIt also brought up a century of goals for Lewandowski in a Barcelona shirt since joining in 2022 from Bayern Munich, and another was soon to follow.Three minutes later Lewandowski nodded in at the back post after a corner was flicked into his path. \u201cI am very happy, very proud to be part of this team, this club, it\u2019s been something amazing,\u201d Lewandowski told Barca One.
\n\u201cI try to do my best, not only with goals but my attitude on and off the pitch — and there are so many young players we have to take care of them. \u201cWe did something great (this season) but we know we can still do a lot (more) things.\u201d Lewandowski missed two good chances in the second half as Barca tried to stretch their lead and sign off in style.
\nIn the Barcelona goal, Inaki Pena showed sharp reactions to tip a ball against the bar as a Pau Cubarsi deflection headed towards his own goal.Barcelona\u2019s 17-year-old star Lamine Yamal forced a smart save at his near post from Simon.
\nThe Catalans got their third when Dani Olmo won and then converted a penalty in stoppage time.
\nAfter the game De Marcos gave a speech to fans at the San Mames and was thrown into the air by his team-mates. \u201cI just want to thank everyone who has been there on (my) path,\u201d said the 36-year-old defender, who played 16 seasons at the club.\u201dNext season I will be in the stands, as just another Athletic fan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BILBAO, SPAIN La Liga champions Barcelona celebrated a successful season with a 3-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday in their final match, with Robert Lewandowski netting twice to pass his 100 goal milestone for the club. The veteran Polish forward, 36, reached 27 league goals for the season, although he finished behind Real Madrid\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-481057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n