Athletic Bilbao host Barcelona in round 2 of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Saturday, August 21st at Estadio San Mamés (Bilbao)
Athletic Bilbao is a solid team that usually fights for high places and trophies. In the previous season, the Lions failed to achieve the desired success in the Spanish championship. The team took only 10th place in the standings. On the other hand, two achievements can be distinguished. First, the Basques won the Spanish Super Cup, beating Barcelona. Secondly, they reached the final of Copa del Rey. However, the Catalans confidently took revenge. As for the new season, Marcelino Garcia Toral's charges scored only one point in the first round. The away match against Elche ended in a goalless draw. The teams showed dull football, as evidenced not only by the game itself but also by additional indicators: statistics and xG (0.93 vs 0.63). Let’s note that in the summer Athletic Bilbao conducted a quiet transfer campaign: no one left, but the management did not buy newcomers either.
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Barcelona is currently in a big crisis. According to the media, the club’s debt rose to $ 1.3 billion. With great difficulty, the Catalans managed to register the newcomers who came this summer. All thanks to Piquet, who agreed to a wage cut. In addition, the legend of not only Barca but also of world football has gone. The management failed to renew the contract with Lionel Messi. The Argentinian joined PSG as a free agent. The start of the 2021/2022 season turned out to be good, but it again emphasized the problems of the Catalans in defense. Blaugranas beat the inconvenient opponent Real Sociedad and earned three points (4-2), but when the score was 3-0, they managed to concede twice within four minutes at the end of the match, making the fans nervous.
Barcelona has someone to convert scoring chances, but the defensive problems are still observed. Last season the Catalans played almost 60% of all games with an exchange of goals scored. The team started the new La Liga draw in the same way: they scored a goal and conceded. Athletic Bilbao is a strong and uncomfortable opponent who regularly takes points from the giants of Spanish football. In addition, both head-to-head confrontations of the previous season ended with scores of 2-1 and 3-2. Beyond that, the teams exchanged goals in the first half of the Spanish Super Cup final. Considering all this, we offer a logical bet on goals in both nets.
Prediction for the match: Both teams to score — yes
