Overview
Barcelona came back to defeat Valencia with a score of 2-1 on the opening day of La Liga 2024-2025. Robert Lewandowski shined with a double to help new coach Hansi Flick have his first official win. In the next round, Barca will return home to welcome Athletic Bilbao.
A good sign for the Blaugrana when Pedri recovered from injury and entered the field in the second half of the match against Valencia. Most likely, the Spanish midfielder will be started by Flick from the start against Bilbao. In addition, Barca hopes to promptly register rookie Dani Olmo, thereby strengthening the squad.
On the other side of the front line, Athletic Bilbao dominated and opened the scoring first but were still held to a 1-1 draw by Getafe. The home team at San Mames is going through a storm of injuries, especially in goal with Unai Simon and Agirrezabala.
Barcelona often achieves good results against Bilbao every time they play at home. In the last 4 matches, Blaugrana won all and scored 11 goals. Therefore, there is a high possibility that Flick's team will win all 3 points in this clash.
Confrontation achievements
Barcelona is superior in its performance against Athletic Bilbao. Notably, Blaugrana kept 5 clean sheets in the last 6 matches against Athletic Bilbao at home.
The two teams met a total of 80 times, with Barca winning 50 matches compared to Bilbao's 14 matches.
In the last 10 confrontations between the two teams, Barcelona won 6 matches. The remaining 4 draws (including 2 matches Bilbao won in extra time). Barcelona had 6 clean sheets against Bilbao during that period.
Personnel situation
The list of Barcelona players being treated for injuries includes Ansu Fati, Ronald Araujo, Frenkie de Jong and Gavi. Meanwhile, Ilkay Gundogan has returned to Manchester City on a free transfer.
On the other side of the front line, in addition to Simon and Agirrezabala, Athletic Bilbao will not have the services of Alvaro Djalo, Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta, Nico Serrano and Oscar de Marcos.
Expected lineup:
Barcelona : Ter Stegen, Kounde, Cubarsi, I. Martinez, Balde, Bernal, Casado, Yamal, Pedri, Raphinha, Lewandowski.
Athletic Bilbao : Padilla, Gorosabel, Yeray, Vivian, Yuri, Prados, Vesga, I. Williams, Sancet, N. Williams, Guruzeta.
The match between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao takes place at 0:00 a.m. on August 25 (Vietnam time).
