PREVIEW | Athletic Club v FC Barcelona
After a week with no midweek fixtures, including the rare luxury of a three-day break, FC Barcelona are back in action on Sunday night at 9pm CET. They seek to extend their six-point lead in La Liga after second-placed Real Madrid beat city rivals Espanyol on Saturday to temporarily close the gap.
But this will be no easy test for Xavi and his men. They have only won on one of their last six visits to the 'Cathedral' of San Mamés (in all competitions). They may have won the last two league games at Spotify Camp Nou by a comfortable margin of 4-0 on both occasions, but when it's the Lions with the home advantage, they have proved a lot harder to tame.
And like the meeting earlier this season, this is another chance to catch up with Ernesto Valverde, a manager who is fondly remembered by Culers after leading the club to two Liga and one Copa del Rey title in his spell as manager.
Gavi and Lewandowski return
And the great news for this one is the return of top scorer Robert Lewandowski, who has been absent for the last few matches nursing a hamstring injury. Gavi is also back after sitting out the Valencia game through suspension. That means the only injury concerns at Barça, albeit two very important ones, are Pedri and Dembélé. But the team will also be without key defender Ronald Araujo for this match. The Uruguayan was sent off against Valencia and is hence serving an automatic one-match suspension.
The full squad for this game is as follows: Ter Stegen, Sergio, Gavi, Lewandowski, Ansu Fati, Ferran, Iñaki Peña, Christensen, Marcos A., Jordi Alba, Kessie, S. Roberto, F. De Jong, Raphinha, Kounde, Eric, Balde, Pablo Torre, Arnau Tenas and A. Alarcón.
Athletic are also hit by an important suspension. Top scorer Oihan Sancet was red carded in injury time the 0-0 draw at Rayo Vallecano last week. There are also question marks regarding the fitness of two Spanish internationals, goalkeeper Unai Simón and Ander Herrera.
Athletic falling away
After getting off to a strong start in La Liga, things have not been going so well for the Basques since the competition resumed after the World Cup. With just two wins in ten matches, they have dropped from the Champions League positions to ninth, and have not won any of their last three encounters.
But they're still alive in the cup and could even face Barça in the final. However, they'll need to turn a 1-0 deficit from their first leg against Osasuna, while Barça still have another leg against Real Madrid.