Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Jan 15, 2016 @ 01:49 am

Next Sunday, 17th of January 2016, Athletic Bilbao will travel to Catalunya to measure forces with Barcelona at the emblematic Camp Nou for round 20 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

After being held to a draw at Cornellà El-Prat against their neighbours and rivals of Espanyol, Barcelona returned to wins at La Liga last weekend after easily overcoming Granada at Camp Nou by 4-0. A splendid hat-trick by Lionel Messi catapulted Barça to a solid performance in the very same day that Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal made their official league debut for the Catalan team. The Turkish midfielder started off on the right foot by contributing with an assist for Messi’s first goal of the day.

Barcelona have won their last three official matches and seem to be back on track after conceding four draws last month. On Wednesday, Barça eliminated Espanyol in the second-leg of the 1/8 finals of the Copa del Rey and they secured a place in the next stage of the competition.

The upcoming match against Athletic Bilbao is of the utmost importance for Luis Enrique’s men, who cannot allow any more setbacks if they want to just rely on themselves to reach the first place of the league table. Barça are currently in the second place of the table, two points behind Atlético Madrid, but with one match in hand.

Rafinha, who is still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury, will miss out there.

As for Athletic Bilbao, after being held to a draw by the surprising UD Las Palmas of Quique Sétien, the Basque team weren’t able to cope with Sevilla’s power at Sanchez Pizjuan and ended up conceding their seventh defeat of the season last weekend.

Athletic managed, nevertheless, to lift their heads by securing a place in the next round of the Copa del Rey after eliminating Villarreal at the 1/8 finals in the middle of the week.

For the complicated visit to Camp Nou, Ernesto Valverde will not be able to rely on the services of Artiz Aduriz, who is currently suspended. Raul Garcia and Asier Molina, who are still recovering from their respective injuries, will also miss out there.

Barcelona

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - WWWDW

Athletic

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - WLWDW

Possible Line-ups

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Bravo - Vidal - Pique - Mascherano - Jordi Alba - Busquets - Turan - Iniesta - Neymar - Suarez - Messi

Athletic (4-2-3-1) - Iraizoz - De Marcos - Gurpegi - Laporte - Balenziaga - Beñat - San José - Eraso - Susaeta - Williams - Muniain

Injury List / Suspended Players

Barcelona - Rafinha (inj)

Athletic - Raul Garcia (inj) - Asier Molina (inj) - Aduriz (sus)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions