Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info
Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao trade blows for the third time in a little over a week, with Los Leones firm favourites to make life miserable indeed for Luis Enrique and Co.
Despite a wretched record against the Catalans which had seen them win just once in 25 attempts, per Fussball Wettpoint, the two Spanish Super Cup games saw the tables turn. And how.
Not for the first time this pre-season, Barca were at sixes and sevens defensively, particularly in the first match. But take nothing away from the Basques, who were fully deserving of such a margin of victory.
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In the second game at Camp Nou, the Blaugrana were a little better overall but never looked like overturning the deficit.
The victory gave Athletic Club their first title of note in 31 years. While they will enjoy the moment, the bread and butter remains their La Liga form, and a loss here will quickly bring the hosts back down to Earth with a bump.
Date: Sunday, August 23
Time: 5:30 p.m. BST/12:30 p.m. ET
Venue: New San Mames, Bilbao, Spain
TV Info: Sky Sports 3/Sky Sports 3 HD (UK only)/beIN Sports 1 (USA only)
Live Stream: Sky Go (UK only)/beIN Sports Connect (USA only)
Form Lines
| Athletic Club de Bilbao | Barcelona |
| D 1-1 vs. Barcelona | D 1-1 vs. Athletic Club de Bilbao |
| W 4-0 vs. Barcelona | L 0-4 vs. Athletic Club de Bilbao |
| L 0-2 vs. Inter Milan | W 5-4 vs. Sevilla |
| D 0-0 vs. Inter Baku | W 3-0 vs. AS Roma |
| L 0-2 vs. Osasuna | L 1-2 vs. Fiorentina |
| W 2-0 vs. Inter Baku | D 2-2 vs. Chelsea |
Predicted Formations
Luis Enrique will need to lean on his wafer-thin squad in this one, Gerard Pique's absence because of his red card the latest in a series of blows for the Catalans.
Neymar is still unavailable for selection too, so whether the Barca faithful like it or not, rotations are going to be a feature again, at least in the early stages of the season.
Per FCBarcelona.com, Jordi Alba has been cleared to play, giving a boost to an already brittle back line, with the loss of Gerard Pique to suspension.
Jeremy Mathieu was probably the best fit alongside Javier Mascherano, but the Frenchman hasn't travelled. Expect Marc Bartra to get an early chance to impress instead.
Claudio Bravo returns to league duty and should provide a calmer influence behind his back four than Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Javier Mascherano will need to take the lion's share of responsibility, and Dani Alves, for all of his energy and verve, really does need to work on his tactical and positional play.
He was awful in that respect in both Super Cups, and Ernesto Valverde needs Sabin and Javi Eraso to continue to work in tandem and make life difficult for the Brazilian.
Too much space in behind the full-backs is where Barca fell down last time out—and indeed where many opposition teams can profit.
Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Andres Iniesta are nailed on for a three-man midfield for Barca, but they must work harder and faster than their opponents if they are to be successful.
Benat was busy and lively throughout the 180 minutes for Athletic, taking the game to the Catalans at every opportunity. Rakitic in particular needs to curb that effervescence allowing Barca to make in-roads themselves.
Luis Suarez's movement up top is key to everything Barca will achieve here. The Uruguayan has been in fine form, and even if he is unable to add to his tally, the expertise he will bring down the middle will open up space for Lionel Messi and young Munir El-Haddadi.
In the absence of Pedro Rodriguez, the youngster really needs to step up his game now. Understudy to Neymar at 19 years of age isn't actually that bad a position to find yourself in, but El-Haddadi needs to show he is worth the promotion.
He didn't get any change out of De Marcos and Eneko Boveda in his 20-minute second-leg cameo, but at least an hour might give him the chance to build confidence.
Ernesto Valverde found success with a 4-2-3-1 at home and a more compact and workmanlike 4-4-1-1 at Camp Nou.
Either should suit Athletic, who will fancy their chances of a third positive result in a row.
A side note is the inclusion of Barca B youngsters Gerard Gumbau and Juan Camara, at the expense of Sergi Samper, who has shown that he is further ahead in his development than the former two players.
Player to Watch
Although the quality in the Athletic side has already been evident, one player has stood, literally and metaphorically, head and shoulders above the rest.
Aritz Aduriz isn't getting any younger, but the old adage that "form is temporary, class is permanent" perfectly applies to the 34-year-old.
With Gerard Pique out of the picture, pick any one from three out-of-form defenders in Thomas Vermaelen, Marc Bartra and Jeremy Mathieu to take care of the marksmen.
All three have already tried and failed spectacularly to do so in the two Spanish Super Cup games.
Aduriz remains a mobile striker who makes a great target for his midfielders, but just give him the ball at head height, and he'll do the rest.
A player who enjoys the heat of battle, he could be the thorn in the Catalans' side again.
Key Battle
Mikel San Jose's delightful long-range effort to open the scoring in the Super Cup final will rightly be remembered for years to come.
What has been strangely overlooked is the excellent way he protected his defence in both games and, moreover, kept Lionel Messi's usual influence to an absolute minimum.
It could be argued that it was a joint effort to keep the Argentine under wraps but there aren't too many games where Messi doesn't escape the shackles.
Ernesto Valverde's directive would appear to have been heeded to the letter and San Jose played a huge part in the teams' success.
When the going gets tough, the defensive midfielder is everything you want in that type of player and more. A tough, uncompromising winner and one who can help his team start their La Liga campaign in the best possible way.
Messi normally has all of the answers, but for the most part, he failed to come up with a workable solution.
With two and sometimes three stationed around him, the Argentine could do worse than drop deeper than normal to bring San Jose away from his defence and then exploit the space in behind, whether by incisive and penetrative running or a killer pass.
Odds
The following pre-match odds are available, per Oddsshark:
Barcelona Win: 100/303
Athletic Bilbao Win: 15/2
Draw: 4/1
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