Barcelona will travel to Estadio San Mamés this Sunday to face Athletic Bilbao in the 25th round of the 2022/23 La Liga season.
The hosts come into this tie in bad shape, looking to end a four-game winless run in all competitions. Their last outing resulted in a goalless draw with Rayo Vallecano. The result left them in ninth position, four points behind the top six.
They will be desperate for a win to stay in the top-six race. However, Athletic’s recent seven-game competitive home form (W4, D1, L2) suggests San Mamés is hardly a fortress, so it could be another poor afternoon for Ernesto Valverde’s side.
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But the Basque side keeping their Catalan visitors at bay in three of their last four La Liga H2Hs here (W1, D2, L1), they may relish this challenge. After recording a 1-0 win over Valencia last weekend, Barca are nine points ahead of Real Madrid in the La Liga title race.
The win over Valencia last weekend took their clean sheet tally to 18 in La Liga, the most in this century by a single club in any top-five European league after 24 games. Not even the ‘Negreira corruption case’, threatening to derail the club, looks likely to stop their imminent title win unless they capitulate very severely between now and May.
Coach Xavi will be desperate to avoid that, especially as the El Clásico follows this trip. A defeat here could potentially see them start that game with just a six-point gap from Real Madrid.
Meanwhile, Bilbao manager Valverde has lost his last eight La Liga matches against Barça, with his teams firing five consecutive scoring blanks, so another under 2.5 goals match could follow here.
