PREVIEW | Athletic Club v FC Barcelona
The Blaugrana will arrive in Bilbao on the back of a six-game unbeaten run in LaLiga, that includes four wins and two draws.
How to follow the game live
The game kicks off at 9.00pm CET. A list of broadcasters can be found here and these are the timetables for the rest of the world:
The opponent
Top Scorer: Iñaki Williams (3 goals)
Coach: Marcelino García Toral
La Liga record (2020/21): 21 points. 6W, 3D and 8L.
Current form
#5 Barça —> W D W D W W
#9 Athletic Club —> W L D W L D
Did you know?
Athletic have lost just one of their last four LaLiga games against FC Barcelona (W1 D2), keeping a clean sheet in two of them, after losing each of their previous nine matches against them in the competition.
At home, Athletic are unbeaten in their last two league games against FC Barcelona (W1 D1), keeping a clean sheet in both and could go unbeaten in three games in a row against them for the first time since 2013 (W1 D2).
FC Barcelona have lost just one of their last 17 visits to Basque sides in LaLiga (W11 D5), losing against Athletic in August 2019 (1-0).
Athletic have won five of their last seven LaLiga games at San Mamés (L2), keeping a clean sheet in four of those five wins.
FC Barcelona have won their last two LaLiga away games, keeping a clean sheet in both. The last time they won three or more league matches in a row without conceding away from home with the same manager in the competition was in August 2016, under Luis Enrique Martínez (4).
Lionel Messi has been directly involved in 23 goals in 25 LaLiga games against Athletic (15 goals and 8 assists), but if he doesn’t score in this game, he could equal his longest run without scoring against them in the competition (four).
Lionel Messi has played more LaLiga games without losing against Athletic than he has against any other opponent in the competition (GP25 W19 D6 L0).
Antoine Griezmann has been involved in 13 goals against Athletic in LaLiga (8 goals and 5 assists) – the most he's been involved with against any team (also 13 against Celta Vigo). However, he has failed to score or assist in his last three league games against them in the competition.
After being involved in one goal in each of his first two LaLiga games against FC Barcelona at San Mamés (one goal and one assist), Athletic’s Iker Muniain has failed to score or assist in his last three home games against them in the competition.
Marcelino García Toral will make his debut as Athletic manager in LaLiga. None of the last five managers lost on their league debut for the club (W2 D3), since José Manuel Esnal “Mané” in 2006.
The Squad
For this match, Ronald Koeman has decided to call up the following players: Ter Stegen, Dest, R. Araujo, Sergio, Griezmann, Pjanic, Braithwaite, Messi, O. Dembélé, Riqui Puig, Neto, Lenglet, Pedri, Trincao, Jordi Alba, F. De Jong, Umtiti, Junior, Iñaki Peña, O. Mingueza and Konrad.
Piqué, Coutinho, S. Roberto and Ansu Fati are out due to injury, while Matheus has not been selected.
Koeman said