Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao
Barcelona’s place at the La Liga summit is in danger, and they know there’s no other acceptable result for them than a win when they host 13th-placed Athletic Bilbao at Camp Nou.
Although the Catalans remain on top of the league standings, their shock defeat to bottom-club Leganes could have cost them that spot. Fortunately, second-placed Real Madrid bowed down to Sevilla in an interesting, and pretty historic, turn of events.
Ernesto Valverde, however, needs to regroup and get things together quickly if Barca want to keep the no.1 rating. After all, they haven’t won in their last two games in the Spanish top flight.
Athletic Bilbao pose little threat, but that’s also what everyone said when the reigning champions played a team that hasn’t defeated them before the midweek spectacle.
Talking Points
Rotation, rotation, rotation?
Barcelona have already dropped a total of five points in their last two games against smaller teams, and that isn’t good for a club with championship aspirations.
Valverde, nonetheless, has no one to blame but himself for the way he managed his squad over the past week.
The Blaugrana started the season on a high as they bagged four straight wins, including an 8-2 drubbing of new boys Huesca. After their UCL opener against PSV, however, Valverde started to change things in his lineup which led to this mess.
In their 2-2 draw with Girona, Valverde used Ivan Rakitic, Philippe Coutinho and Samuel Umtiti as second-half substitutes—all after Christian Stuani bagged two goals to put Los Leones ahead. Meanwhile, in the Leganes match, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba didn’t start as well and was only fielded when the team was already behind.
While it’s clear that the 54-year-old Valverde is only keeping his players well-rested for their Champions League run, he cannot afford to rest his key players if it means losing winnable games.
The team has been too reliant on Messi to score and create, and the absence of Suarez, Coutinho and Rakitic in the Starting XI has greatly affected their production on the offensive end.
It remains to be seen if Valverde will field his best players against Bilbao, especially with a high-stakes UCL match against Tottenham coming up. But it might be best for the Spanish boss to do so, as his team could really use a morale-boosting victory.
Barca defence needs stability
Another problem for Barca that was prevalent in their recent outings is their shaky defence rooted on individual mistakes…well, on Gerard Pique.
Their old guard, who was supposed to be the symbol of stability at the back, made two costly errors that led to two goals against Girona, and he completed the unwanted hat-trick against Leganes when he played the ball to Oscar Rodriguez Arnaiz inside the box—in front of the Barcelona goal!
There’s a huge possibility that Pique won’t start against Bilbao, but that means the likes of Thomas Vermaelen and Clement Lenglet needs to pick up the slack.
Vermaelen has been less than impressive at the centre-back post while Lenglet is coming off his one-game ban due to a red card, so Barcelona certainly have their work cut out.
Struggling Bilbao on a winless skid
If there’s one silver lining for Barcelona in this affair, it’s the fact that Bilbao are on a four-game winless skid.
The Basque side hasn’t been in a lot of La Liga 2018 highlights, having drawn with Huesca and Real Sociedad and losing recently to Villarreal. They did draw with Real Madrid, but that match only showed how easily they crumble when the pressure rises.
Indeed, while Bilbao have scored in all but one of their five outings, they are susceptible defensively after failing to keep even one clean sheet.
It’s up to Barcelona to take advantage of the visitors’ glaring weakness, but Bilbao will surely find some inspiration from the giant-slaying act of Leganes that the football world just witnessed.
History
Out of their last 10 meetings in all competitions, Bilbao have won just once against Barcelona. The Catalans, on the other hand, won the other nine games by an average of 2.5 goals.
Even more remarkably, in those nine victories, Barca kept six clean sheets and conceded just one goal each in the other three encounters.
Last year, Barcelona dominated their home-and-away fixtures by the same 2-0 scoreline. Lionel Messi scored in both meetings too!
Betting Tip
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Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao | Total Goal 2-3 @ 2.38 |
| September 29, 22:15 (GMT+8) |
The La Liga 2018 odds at SBOBET suggest that this fight will be one-sided, but I beg to differ.
Barcelona are struggling to find their rhythm, and it’s doubtful Valverde will play a full-strength squad given that they are set to travel to England for the Spurs match.
While I expect Barcelona to break off their slump, I don’t think that there will be a large margin as what the Asian Handicap odds suggest.
With that said, I predict two to three goals in this game for a Barca victory.
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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