Barcelona vs Ath Bilbao prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2023-10-21 19:00.
Barcelona recovered from conceding after 17 seconds, the earliest they have done so in La Liga (LL) in the 21st century, to draw 2-2 against Granada prior to the international break. That result left them third ahead of the round, three points behind leaders Real Madrid, although Barça are the only side in the division yet to lose this campaign (W6, D3).
That record may mean nothing if they continue to drop points though, and Xavi has a sizeable task on his hands as he seeks to manage injured players and those returning from international duties. The Catalans should, however, be hugely optimistic about claiming victory over Athletic Bilbao, having taken 55 of the last 57 points on offer in home top-flight H2Hs, with their last home LL defeat to the visitors occurring way back in November 2001.
Such numbers may make the task daunting, but Athletic are likely to travel confidently to Barcelona’s temporary home of Estadio OlĂmpico, after a 3-0 win over AlmerĂa saw them reach their joint-highest points tally (17) after nine LL games this century. They start this round in fifth and have conceded less goals (9) than their hosts (10), but ranking as the only club to have conceded more than 350 league goals to Barcelona in their history, the Basques could be jittery about their chances of building on their positive start to 2023/24.
It doesn’t help matters that manager Ernesto Valverde meets his former employers with a winless away H2H record (D5, L9). Any hopes of changing that script will depend on a visiting defence that has kept three clean sheets across four LL away encounters this term, although the Lions let in three in their last match on their travels against rivals Real Sociedad.
Players to watch: Ferran Torres bagged the final goal in last season’s 4-0 H2H win at the Camp Nou, further improving his impressive record in league games in which he’s scored (W9, L1) for Barcelona. Athletic’s Iñaki Williams, meanwhile, has had precious little luck in this fixture, having lost 11 of his 15 LL H2Hs (W1, D3), netting only once.
Hot stat: An Athletic player has been carded first in eight of their last nine LL matches.