Athletic Bilbao V/s FC Barcelona
Luis Enrique's men have been close-and-personal to Athletic Bilbao. In the Spanish Super Cup, Athletic Club defeated Barcelona 5-1 on aggregate with 4-0 at San Memes.
Luis Enrique spoke to media on Saturday morning and — although Sunday’s clash will be Barça’s third straight against Athletic following last week’s two games in the Spanish Super Cup — he explained why he believes this first match in La Liga is somewhat of a different beast.
“Despite the fact that we have played against them twice already, the context of the game will help us more than the previous two. We'll be fresher with more good training sessions under our belt while, on the other hand, Athletic are coming off a demanding and important game,” he said.
Athletic Club manager Ernesto Valverde offered his view, expressing a newfound confidence after his team’s 5–1 aggregate victory over Barça last week that handed them the Spanish Super Cup, their first title in 31 years: “We know we can beat them and we know the level of concentration required to do it. We’re going to go all out.”
Though Barcelona won the treble, last month for them has been significantly weak.
Date- 23rd August, 2015
Time- 5.30 pm UK/10.00 pm IST/6.30 pm CET
Venue- San Mames, Athletic Bilbao, Spain.
Form-
Athletic Bilbao-WDL
FC Barcelona- WLD
Team News-
- Neymar will miss this clash because he hasn't recovered from Mumps.
- Jordi Alba has Hamstring issues.
- Adriano has a groin injury
- Jeremy Mathieu is suspended due to yellow card accumulation from 2014-2015 season.
Athletic Bilbao-
- Iraizoz
- De Marcos
- Etxieta
- Laporte
- Balenziaga
- Susaeta
- San Jose
- Benat
- Merino
- Eraso
- Aduriz
Barcelona-
- Bravo
- Alves
- Vermaelen
- Mascherano
- Alba/Grimaldo
- Busquets
- Rakitic
- Iniesta
- Messi
- Ramirez
- Suarez
I expect FC Barcelona to win this clash 1-4.
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