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Athletic Bilbao logo
La Liga | Gameweek 2
Jan 6, 2021 at 8pm UK
San Mamés Barria
Barcelona logo

Athletic Bilbao
2 - 3
Barcelona

Williams (3'), Muniain (90')
Vesga (27'), Garcia (70')
FT(HT: 1-2)
Pedri (14'), Messi (38', 62')
Lenglet (57')

Preview: Athletic Bilbao vs. Barcelona - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Wednesday's La Liga clash between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Barcelona face Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday evening with the opportunity to move into third position in the La Liga table.

Meanwhile, Athletic head into the contest at the San Mames Stadium with a new manager having replaced Gaizka Garitano with Marcelino.


Match preview

Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman pictured in October 2020© Reuters

Sitting 10 points adrift of Atletico Madrid having played a game more than the leaders, Ronald Koeman will want to make sure of third spot before thinking about further targets.

Nevertheless, putting together a six-match unbeaten streak has given the Dutchman reasons to be optimistic for the second half of the season.

Performances are far from the level expected at Camp Nou, but Koeman would have taken some satisfaction from the clean sheet recorded during Sunday's 1-0 success at bottom club Huesca.

Despite criticism regarding his attack, Barcelona have the joint-best record in the division, scoring the same amount of times as Real Madrid having played one game fewer.

While there is a vulnerability about the Catalan giants at this stage of their transitional period, it may only take an improvement from Lionel Messi to make a significant difference in the title race.

Although Athletic boss Garitano had been under pressure for a number of weeks, the win over Elche at the weekend felt like a step in the right direction.

However, the decision has been made to replace Garitano with former Valencia manager Marcelino, who has been out of work since September 2019.

The arrival of Marcelino is somewhat of a coup for Athletic after their indifferent form in La Liga, but he will be aware that his reputation will count for little if he cannot help his players find some consistency.

On the plus side, seven points have now been collected from four matches, and the 55-year-old may be arriving at San Mames at the perfect time.

Athletic Bilbao La Liga form: DLWDLW

Barcelona La Liga form: WWDWDW


Team News

Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann pictured on October 17, 2020© Reuters

Koeman is likely to make a number of changes to his Barcelona XI, including handing a recall to Antoine Griezmann.

Miralem Pjanic should get the nod over Sergio Busquets, while Francisco Trincao is in contention for his first league start of the campaign.

With Marcelino only having a couple of days to work with his new squad, it remains unclear whether alterations will be made to Athletic's strategy for this game.

If a switch is made to 4-4-2, Alex Berenguer and Iker Muniain could line up on opposite flanks, with Inaki Williams operating through the middle.

Athletic Bilbao possible starting lineup:
Simon; Capa, Nunez, Martinez, Berchiche; Berenguer, Vesga, Garcia, Muniain; Williams, Villalibre

Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Dest, Araujo, Lenglet, Alba; Pedro, Pjanic, De Jong; Messi, Griezmann, Dembele


SM words green background

We say: Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Barcelona

Despite much of their recent criticism being deserved, Barcelona still head into this contest as the clear favourites. While we do not expect a match that is easy on the eye, the visitors should have enough quality in the final third to claim a hard-fought win.


Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data



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Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Barcelona win with a probability of 72.08%. A draw had a probability of 17.8% and a win for Athletic Bilbao had a probability of 10.16%.

The most likely scoreline for a Barcelona win was 0-2 with a probability of 13.5%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (12.27%) and 0-3 (9.9%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.42%), while for an Athletic Bilbao win it was 1-0 (3.83%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 2.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Barcelona would win this match.


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Game History

How you voted: Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona

Athletic Bilbao
15.6%
Draw
15.3%
Barcelona
69.2%
308
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Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman pictured in October 2020
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rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Barcelona11100137102730
2Real Madrid1173121111024
3Villarreal116322019121
4Atletico MadridAtletico11551167920
5Athletic Bilbao115331711618
6Real BetisBetis11533119218
7Mallorca11533108218
8Osasuna115331616018
9Rayo Vallecano114431210216
10Sevilla114341215-315
11Celta Vigo114161720-313
12Real Sociedad11335810-212
13GironaGirona113351114-312
14Leganes11254912-311
15Getafe1117389-110
16AlavesAlaves113171319-610
17Espanyol113171019-910
18Las PalmasLas Palmas112361319-69
19Real ValladolidValladolid11227923-148
20Valencia11146817-97


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