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Barcelona vs Ath Bilbao Prediction & Betting tips
Leader of the league playful: FC Barcelona missed two points on matchday 30 in the 0-0 draw in Sevilla – and since title rival Real Madrid did their homework in the 2-1 win at Real Sociedad late Sunday evening, Barcelona has lost the top spot in La Liga .
Real and Barça are tied on top of all other teams with 65 points each in Spain’s La Liga – but since the Madrilenians won the direct comparison against Barcelona (0: 0, 2: 0), they are virtual leaders.
But Barça cannot grieve for a long time about losing the league lead, because the next game is already on Tuesday, when on Matchday 31 Athletic Bilbao is visiting Camp Nou. In La Liga things go on without a break.
Things went better for Bilbao last weekend than for Barcelona. They won their game against Betis 1-0 on Saturday. Now two teams meet, both of whom have been unbeaten since La Liga’s re-start – Athletic Bilbao scored five out of a possible nine, Barça seven out of nine.
Barcelona:
In an away game in third place in the table, you can “only” take one point with you – this point was still too little for FC Barcelona. Since Real Madrid won two days later in San Sebastian, Barcelona is back from the league lead due to the small slip at Sevilla FC (0-0).
“We had high expectations of ourselves, we knew it was an important game. We have proven that for 30 minutes. The problem is that we have not made it any longer, ”said Quique Setién after sharing the points in Andalusia, noting:“ There are things that need to be improved, but I am optimistic. ”
By that he meant Barça’s attacking game. The Catalans had little chance of scoring against the densely staggered, attentive and well-defensive Seville defensive – a recurring problem. “We should be able to find more solutions, even if the opponent is low. We already had the problem against Leganés, ”Setien analyzed honestly and admitted that“ it was difficult to find rooms ”.
Already in the 2-0 home win on the previous day against the relegation candidate from Leganés, Barça offensively knew anything but to inspire, played slowly and uninspired. That must change as quickly as possible against Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday.
Barcelona will also have to do without two regulars in this game, who were already missing in Seville: right-back Sergi Roberto suffered a rib injury, midfielder Frenkie de Jong a muscle injury in the calf. The season could even be over for the Dutch, even if Barça did not announce an exact downtime.
De Jong’s absence comes at the wrong time and is particularly painful for the Catalans in the battle for the championship title, as creativity in the central midfield is lacking. But even without the addition of Ajax Amsterdam, a home win against Athletic Bilbao is mandatory, without ifs and buts – another slip in the title race would be fatal.
Athletic Bilbao:
It’s not going to be easy for Barça on Tuesday evening: Athletic Bilbao is in good shape and has been unbeaten for five games. The Basques have accumulated two draws and one victory since the league resumption after the compulsory break.
As a result, the Basques currently rank ninth and have not yet given up their European places, qualifying for the Europa League is the declared goal – and due to the small series only five points away.
“The win today was very important to reduce the gap to the team in front of us,” said Iñigo Martinez, scorer of the golden goal against Betis Sevilla, “this win will give us a boost before visiting Camp Nou.”
His colleague Iñigo Córdoba sees it the same way: “We had two draws, with these three points we are again involved in the fight for Europe,” said Cordoba, who also addressed the boost for the difficult guest appearance at Camp Nou: “To win before we go to Camp Nou gives us a lot of morale for the difficult game. ”
In Camp Nou there hasn’t been much to get for Athletic Bilbao in years. The Basque team’s last away win at FC Barcelona was in 2001 – since then there have been 14 losses and only four draws in 18 games.
Barcelona vs Ath Bilbao head to head matches
06.02.20 CDR Ath Bilbao Barcelona 1 : 0
16.08.19 LL Ath Bilbao Barcelona 1 : 0
10.02.19 LL Ath Bilbao Barcelona 0 : 0
29.09.18 LL Barcelona Ath Bilbao 1 : 1
18.03.18 LL Barcelona Ath Bilbao 2 : 0