Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona
Ernesto Valverde takes his defending champions to Bilbao on Sunday night to continue his quest for La Liga domination.
He still has a few hurdles to overcome this season, and La Liga Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona at Saint Mames could turn out to be a pretty high one. Since replacing Eduardo Berizzo as Bilbao boos, Gaizka Garitano has lifted Los Leones away from the drop zone with a series of battling performances. His first defeat will have hurt badly, losing the Basque derby to Real Sociedad last weekend, and his team will be fired up to take on the Catalans.
Barcelona has come under a little pressure recently and this promises to be a fascinating clash, so make sure you catch up with us again for the Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona highlights on Sunday.
This is a great time for SBOBET La Liga 2019 fans with the Madrid derby on Saturday when the reigning champions will be hoping for a draw. Then they’ll turn their attention to Garitano’s Lions.
Talking Points
Garitano’s Bilbao revolution
The Saint Mames Stadium is a different place now. With three wins from the last six league games, Garitano’s team has climbed to 12th place on 26 points and the passionate Bilbao fans are chanting with hope rather than anxiety once again. But with the teams at the bottom all starting to pick up points, they only have a three-point cushion to 18th-placed Rayo Vallecano, and so there is still plenty of work to do.
Garitano has two lively characters up front to test Gerard Pique and co in the Barca rearguard. Iker Muniain scored his sixth league goal in a 1-0 win over Real Betis the last time Athletic Bilbao were at home. And his attacking partner Inaki Williams has been in fine form, scoring nine goals in all competitions.
Barca has fight as well as finesse
Ernesto Valverde’s team has looked the best side in La Liga, by a distance, for much of this season. But they have also shown they can scrap it out to avoid defeat in two difficult tests over the past week. Barca had to come back from a two-goal deficit to save a point at home to Valencia, while Real Madrid won their fourth game in a row to climb to within eight points of the leaders.
There was a midweek El Clasico, too, where Malcom scored a brilliant second-half goal to earn Barca a draw against Los Blancos in the Copa del Rey. So it’s two draws in a row but they were against two very strong teams, Barca fought back well and could have won both games, Ivan Rakitic hitting the woodwork against Real.
The Catalans’ biggest worry is the fitness of Leo Messi. The Argentine has scored 21 league goals already this season, including a double against Valencia, but he suffered a thigh injury in that game. Valverde is sweating on his progress, hoping he will be fit enough to face Bilbao on Sunday. If not, then Ousmane Dembele is likely to take his place having recovered from his own ankle niggle. Meanwhile, Valverde must shuffle his defence with Jordi Alba suspended after collecting his fifth yellow card of the season.
Former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho has been short of confidence for much of the season, but there have been signs recently that he is discovering his mojo again. He scored in the Copa victory over Sevilla and has increased his league tally to four.
History
Barca versus Bilbao head-to-heads are massively in the Catalans’ favour, winning 42 of the 64 games played since 1993. Athletic Bilbao managed nine wins and 13 draws.
The underdogs grabbed an unexpected point at the Camp Nou earlier in the season with a 1-1 draw, courtesy of an Oscar de Marcos goal which put them ahead before Munir El Haddadi scored a late equaliser.
Defeat in the Basque derby was Los Leones’ first in eight league games, and they have a home record of four wins, five draws and just two defeats. And Barca are unbeaten in ten in the league.
The strikers will have their work cut out. Barca earned six clean sheets in their last nine, while Bilbao had seven shutouts in 13.
So let’s see where the value is with the latest Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona odds.
Betting Tip
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Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona | Barcelona -0.75 @ 2.01 |
| February 11, 03:45 (GMT+8) |
Athletic Bilbao fear no-one since the arrival of Garitano, and this will be no easy ride for Barcelona. The hosts are at 4.80 to win with the draw at 3.70 and Barca at 1.70, so we expect an away win. But the telling factor will be which strike force has the lethal touch to open up two in-form defences.
If Messi doesn’t make it then Bilbao has a chance, but I think Barca’s class will be too much for Los Leones in the end.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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