Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona

Estadio San Mamés forms the backdrop for a mouth-watering La Liga clash between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona.

Injury-hit Athletic Bilbao could only manage an uneventful 0-0 draw at Rayo Vallecano last weekend, taking their underwhelming run to three winless La Liga matches (D1, L2) and losing further ground on European placings in the process. With four points separating them from seventh-placed Villarreal at the start of this round, defying an indifferent four-match home league form (W1, D1, L2) is necessary if they’re to reignite their European hopes. That’s easier said than done, given that Ernesto Valverde’s charges are winless in their last six top-flight meetings with Barcelona (D1, L5), including a humiliating 4-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at Camp Nou. Scoring is another issue that requires immediate improvement, with Bilbao failing to get on the scoresheet in three of their last four competitive outings.

As for Barcelona, a second consecutive 1-0 win against Valencia last time out helped them re-establish a nine-point cushion at the league summit going into this round. That victory saw the ‘Blaugrana’ make history by becoming the only club in the 21st century to register 18 clean sheets in the first 24 matches of a top-flight campaign in Europe’s top-five leagues. Having won their last two league H2Hs by an identical 4-0 scoreline, Xavi Hernandez’s men are confident about adding to their shutouts tally. What’s even more comforting for Barcelona, they’ve picked up points on their last 11 visits to teams from the Basque Country in La Liga (W8, D3) since going down at Bilbao in August 2019.