Spanish Super Cup 2015: Athletic Bilbao vs. Barcelona Live Stream and Prediction
Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao will meet at the San Mames on Friday, August 14, in the first leg of the 2015 Spanish Super Cup. Sky Sports and ESPN will provide full coverage of the clash, as the Blaugrana look to complete a sweep of pre-season trophies.
The Catalans beat Sevilla 5-4 in an epic European Super Cup final and will hope to add a second trophy to their tally, but in order to do so, they'll have to survive the difficult trip to the Basque Country.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez showed their excellent form against Sevilla, but defensively, Luis Enrique's men showed plenty of weaknesses.
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Bilbao started their 2015-16 campaign with a 2-0 win over Inter Baku, booking their spot in the Europa League play-off round in the process. Preparations for the new season haven't been ideal, but San Mames is always a tricky venue to visit, so the Blaugrana should be careful. Here's everything you need to know about Friday's match.
Time: 9 p.m. BST/4 p.m. ET
Venue: San Mames Stadium, Bilbao
TV info: The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports 5 (for UK viewers) and ESPN 3 USA (for U.S. viewers).
Live Stream: Sky Go, Watch ESPN
Preview
Bilbao and Barcelona will meet three times over the course of 10 days, and with the first leg of the play-off round sandwiched in between the last two meetings with the Spanish champions, Bilbao's schedule is packed. Between Friday and the end of the month, the Basques will play six times.
The Basques struggled through much of the pre-season before picking up a vital win at home against Inter Baku, and coach Ernesto Valverde must be hoping his side have turned the corner. Qualification for the Europa League will likely be the club's top priority, so whether we'll see Bilbao at full strength remains a question mark.
Barcelona served up an incredible spectacle against Sevilla, winning the European Super Cup deep in extra time, but as noted by football writer Pete O'Rourke, the Catalans were far from perfect:
Enrique's defence looked shaky, to say the least, with Jeremy Mathieu and Marc Bartra both making key mistakes. Further up the pitch, the Catalans didn't skip a beat, as Rafinha replaced Neymar, but Barcelona's vulnerability at the back is something worth keeping an eye on early in the season.
The La Liga champions are the favourites to bag the Super Cup as well, but as reported by Goal.com, Enrique warned the fans against believing his team will simply win every competition they enter:
"It seems Barcelona are expected to win every title, but it is not always like this. People think Barca win automatically but that's not the case. We should be proud of these players.
What we did has a lot of merit. So I am very proud of how the players managed to restart again when it was 4-4 and create new chances.
"
When you're leading 4-1, the opponent has nothing to lose. Obviously we have to analyse what happened and the risk that Sevilla took. They managed to come back. It happens sometimes. They had a penalty and used the wings.
Barcelona are hoping to win an incredible six trophies this season but were presented with a very rough schedule to start the La Liga campaign. Bilbao, Malaga and Atletico Madrid will be their first three domestic opponents, so Enrique will have to balance out his squad a bit and avoid fatigue or key injuries in the Super Cup.
Jordi Alba and Neymar are expected to miss both Super Cup matches, per La Liga blogger Rafael Hernandez, so both Rafinha and Mathieu are expected to retain their spot in the starting XI.
The squad they'll face will be quite similar to the one they saw last year, as Bilbao didn't make any major purchases in the transfer window and managed to keep hold of its biggest stars. Aymeric Laporte will again lead the defence, and the French youngster is expected to enjoy a massive breakout campaign ahead of Euro 2016.
Prediction
Bilbao have a very solid defence, and backed by the vocal home crowd at the San Mames, they can always do a little more. As the Super Cup is played over two legs, expect both teams to take the time to feel each other out, making for a slower match.
Stopping Barcelona from scoring seems next to impossible, but without Alba, the Blaugrana defence remains suspect.
Final score: Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Barcelona
