Barcelona started their post-Lionel Messi era very well when they beat Real Sociedad 4-2 in their La Liga opening game of the season.<\/p>\n
The Catalans have had to move on from their ever-reliable former player who now adorns the colours of PSG in France.<\/p>\n
Ronald Koeman has to deal with fielding players that the club can keep as they look to offload some of their current top earners.<\/p>\n
Their opening day win shows they can still be successful in the absence of Messi, but their visit to Athletic will be a tougher task for them.<\/p>\n
The hosts drew their first league game of the season against Elche and would want to get their first win against the Catalans.<\/p>\n
There is no better way to earn your first three points of the season than against a top team like Barca.<\/p>\n
The last time the Catalans visited them, Athletic won the match 1-0 before losing the reverse fixture last season 4-0 at the Camp Nou.<\/p>\n
They have always been a problem club for Barcelona and this match would hardly be different considering that both clubs are just returning for the start of the campaign and would want to make a good start to the campaign.<\/p>\n
Memphis Depay has made a fine start to the season and the Dutchman would be keen to continue his fine form in this match as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barcelona started their post-Lionel Messi era very well when they beat Real Sociedad 4-2 in their La Liga opening game of the season. The Catalans have had to move on from their ever-reliable former player who now adorns the colours of PSG in France. Ronald Koeman has to deal with fielding players that the club can keep as they look to offload some of their current top earners. Their opening day win shows they can still be successful in the absence of Messi, but their visit to Athletic will be a tougher task for them. The hosts drew their first league game of the season against Elche and would want to get their first win against the Catalans. There is no better way to earn your first three points of the season than against a top team like Barca. The last time the Catalans visited them, Athletic won the match 1-0 before losing the reverse fixture last season 4-0 at the Camp Nou. They have always been a problem club for Barcelona and this match would hardly be different considering that both clubs are just returning for the start of the campaign and would want to make a good start to the campaign. Memphis Depay has made a fine start to the season and the Dutchman would be keen to continue his fine form in this match as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161,157],"tags":[191,32,190],"class_list":["post-9202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-liga","category-match-preview","tag-athletic-bilbao","tag-barcelona","tag-la-liga"],"yoast_head":"\n