Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Always one of the best games to look out for in La Liga’s calendar, Athletic Club welcome Barcelona to San Mames in the Basque Country on Saturday night.
Kick-off date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – Not televised / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so any game may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
How to watch online: UK – Disney+ / US – ESPN+
Athletic Bilbao preview: Inertia in Bilbao
Athletic Club come into this one on the back of a slender 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad at Reale Arena in the Basque derby in midweek, completing a 2-0 aggregate loss to arch-rivals La Real in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.
Ernesto Valverde has enjoyed a successful time of it in Bilbao but it does appear as though Athletic’s season is coming to an end with only squeezing into the UEFA Europa Conference League pretty much what they have to play for this season.
Barcelona preview: Hungry for more
Barcelona, on the other hand, managed to hammer Atletico Madrid by three goals to nil at Camp Nou but it wasn’t enough for the Blaugrana to turn things around in that Copa del Rey semi-final tie, having lost the first-leg 4-0 at the Metropolitano.
The Catalan giants were utterly magnificent in that clash the other day and it should inspire belief that they can pull away from Real Madrid in La Liga but also once again go very deep, and a couple of steps further, in the UEFA Champions League.
Athletic Bilbao team news: A few injuries
Ahead of the visit of Barca, Athletic have a few longer-term injury absentees that have been major issues to their underperformance this season, such as UEFA EURO 2024 winner Nico Williams.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Unai Simon; Dani Vivian, Aitor Paredes, Laporte, Yuri Berchiche; Alejandro Rego, Mikel Jauregizar; Inaki Williams, Oihan Sancet, Alex Berenguer; Gorka Guruzeta
Unavailable: Yeray (Disciplinary), Unai Egiluz (Injured), Benat Prados (Injured), Nico Williams (Injured), Maroan Sannadi (Injured)
Questionable:
Barcelona team news: Fresh injuries
Barcelona have some fresh injury issues for this one as Robert Lewandowski is a doubt, while defenders Jules Kounde and Alex Balde are confirmed absentees.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Gerard Martin, Cancelo; Pedri, Marc Bernal; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Raphinha; Ferran Torres
Unavailable: Christensen (Injured), Kounde (Injured), Alex Balde (Injured), De Jong (Injured)
Questionable: Gavi (Injured), Lewandowski (Injured)
Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona prediction
Up against his former club, Ernesto Valverde is heading into perhaps his final spring in charge of Athletic. The home team will always play with intensity and aggression against Barca at San Mames. Barca head to the Basque Country in excellent form, though, and looking as though they are peaking at the right time and an away win remains the likeliest outcome here.
Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona tip: Barcelona to win
