Luis Suarez squandered two excellent opportunities to make the game safe for the visitors, but they held on to move level with Real Madrid and Las Palmas at the top of the table after only two games.
The hosts started strongly and should have gone ahead when Benat capitalised on a mistake by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but the Barca ‘keeper made up for his error, standing tall to save well from point-blank range.
And Barca’s first slick move of the half resulted in Enrique’s side taking the lead. Suarez turned and fed Turan, who picked out the run of Rakitic to head past Athletic goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz.
The visitors continued to carve out chances in the second half, with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez both guilty of missing the target when well placed to test the Athletic ‘keeper.
Ter Stegen, returning from a knee ligament injury to start in goal following the departure of Claudio Bravo to Manchester City, was largely a bystander, although Raul Garcia and Benat did go close for Athletic.
MANCHESTER CITY manager Pep Guardiola heaped praise on his players following their 3-1 win over West Ham, their third successive Premier League victory.
“Again, we played a really, really good game. I think our fans enjoyed it. We are happy with what’s happening this month.
However, Argentina international Sergio Aguero could face retrospective action after appearing to aim an elbow at West Ham’s Winston Reid.
While the referee missed the incident in real time, the English FA are likely to investigate and could hit Aguero with a ban ahead of next month’s Manchester derby.
Guardiola claimed: “I didn’t see anything.”