Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona

Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona will face-off against each other at the Estadio San Mamés in an exciting La Liga showdown.

A goalless away draw with Elche on the opening weekend has stretched Athletic Bilbao’s barren run in La Liga to four consecutive matches. Indeed, Marcelino Garcia Toral’s men have equaled the club’s unwanted record of going four top-flight games without scoring in the 21st century. Atheltic’s scoring woes were plain for everyone to see last season when they netted the fewest goals (46) among the sides to claim a top-table finish. Even if they snap their scoreless run here, ‘Los Leones’ will need to add something extra if they are to defeat a Barcelona side they have outplayed only once across their last 15 La Liga H2H meetings (D2, L12). However, they can draw some comfort from going unbeaten in two of their previous three top-flight H2Hs as hosts (W1, D1, L1).

Meanwhile, after marking their first La Liga match in the post-Lionel Messi era with a commanding 4-2 home victory over Real Sociedad, Barcelona will be aiming to extend their unbeaten away league streak to five straight games (W3, D1). Such a prospect is well within the realm of possibility, as the ‘Blaugrana’ have suffered just one defeat in their last 20 La Liga trips to Basque-based outfits (W14, D5). But Ronald Koeman will have to address his side’s growing defensive issues, with Barcelona conceding 2+ goals in seven of their last ten La Liga fixtures! Moreover, you will have to go back to early March to find Barcelona’s last clean sheet in an away league match, as they’ve now failed to register a shutout in six consecutive La Liga trips.