Overview
Athletic Bilbao entered their final match in La Liga with a ticket to the Champions League after a series of impressive matches.
Coach Ernesto Valverde's team is unbeaten in the last 5 rounds (won Las Palmas, Alaves, Getafe, Valencia and drew with Sociedad) with a perfect record.
The European team's defense is still a strong point this season. They are the team that has conceded the fewest goals in La Liga 2024-2025 (before round38), conceding only 26.
Although they are very confident, the home team at San Mames promises to still face many difficulties when their opponent is Barcelona.
Last week, the Blaugrana unexpectedly lost to Villarreal at home, but the away form of coach Hansi Flick's team is another story.
In La Liga, the Catalan club has won their last 6 trips, including a 4-2 victory over Atletico Madrid.
During that time, Barca continued to affirm the strength of the attack when scoring a total of 15 goals, an average of 2.5 goals/match.
Before round 38, Hansi Flick's team had 99 goals in La Liga, equal to the 2017-2019 record and about to reach the milestone of 100 goals for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
Strikers like Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha are certainly still the top hopes to help Blaugrana end the season with an impressive victory.
In terms of head-to-head record, Barcelona is also slightly better than Athletic Bilbao. In this year's tournament, the two teams have met twice and Hansi Flick's team won all, with scores of 2-1 and 2-0 respectively. It is likely that the Blaugrana will have defeated Bilbao for the third consecutive time.
Personnel situation
Athletic Bilbao have no major personnel problems, although Nico Williams may only be on the bench when he returns from injury.
On the other side of the front line, Hansi Flick may make some changes to the squad. Ferran Torres and Jules Kounde will be absent due to injury once again.
Expected lineup:
Athletic Bilbao: Simon, Yuri, Vivian, Paredes, De Marcos, Jauregizar, Ruiz de Galarreta, Berenguer, Sancet, I. Williams, Sannadi.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Balde, Martinez, Christensen, E. Garcia, De Jong, Pedri, Raphinha, Olmo, Yamal, Lewandowski.
The match between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona takes place at 2:00 am on May 26 (Vietnam time).
