Athletic Bilbao take on the visitors Barcelona in the round 27 match of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Sunday, February 3rd at Estadio San Mamés (Bilbao)
Athletic are really good this season. The Basques undoubtedly remain a historical giant of Spanish football. But at the same time, they remain faithful to their unique selection policy, which objectively limits the opportunities to search for newcomers. It's not surprising that in recent years, their achievements have been limited to just the Spanish Super Cup won under Marcelino. Furthermore, even the return of Ernesto Valverde to San Mamés brought very modest progress. But now, the Williams brothers and company have become one of the main revelations of the current season. They reached the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey again, winning the first leg in Madrid against Atletico. This week at home, they crushed Los Colchoneros 3-0. In La Liga, there's a chance to break into the top 4, and the victory over Girona was significant, winning 3-2. However, this was followed by a defeat in Seville against Betis.
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Barcelona will change their manager in the summer. After a wave of failures, Xavi announced that he would leave the coaching position in the summer. By the time his decision became public, his team had suffered a heavy defeat in the Spanish Super Cup final against Real Madrid and then lost in extra time in the Copa del Rey precisely at San Mamés against Athletic. The Champions League was a breath of fresh air for the more than a club, especially against the backdrop of failures in 2021 and 2022 when the favorites failed to advance from the group stage. Last autumn, there was also a defeat to Shakhtar, but still, the culés finished first in their group. The knockout stage has already begun, and they ended their first leg in Italy against Napoli with a 1-1 draw - such a result guarantees nothing - they need to win at home in March. In La Liga, despite improving in recent matches (one draw in their last 5 games, the rest were wins), they still lag significantly behind Los Blancos. And if they lose now, they could even jeopardize their place in the current top 4 of the table.
At the end of January, the Basques won at home in extra time against the Catalans in the cup. But before that, including this season in La Liga, there were victories for the Blaugranas in El Clásico. Despite their differing performances this season, the Blaugranas will be relative favorites in the pair. But it seems that Ernesto Valverde's charges are good enough to at least not lose to the visitors from Barcelona on their home turf.
Prediction for the match: Athletic Bilbao not to lose (1X).
