Athletic Club Bilbao (5th, 49pts) vs FC Barcelona (3rd, 57pts)
Competition/Round: 2023-24 La Liga, Matchday 27
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Gavi, Alejandro Balde, Ferran Torres, Marcos Alonso (out)
Athletic Outs & Doubts: Nico Williams, Dani Vivian (out), Yuri Berchiche, Ander Herrera (doubt)
Date/Time: Sunday, March 3, 2024, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm
GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Monday)
Venue: Estadio San Mamés, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
Referee: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández
VAR: Carlos Del Cerro Grande
How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), Canal+ Sport 3 (Nigeria),
Sports18 (India), Viaplay Sports 1 (UK), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), LaLigaTV (UK), Movistar+ (Spain),
After an impressive win against Getafe the Catalans are fully charged up. They return for La Liga and
travel to the Basque country to face Athletic Bilbao at the Cathedral of San Mamés on Sunday Night Fútbol.
Barca has had a wonderful previous game. Amazing coaching and strategic thinking by Xavi Hernández led them to the win against Getafe. The game against Getafe was complete show in every sense. Getafe’s flawed strategy was used intelligently against them and Barca emerged victorious at home.
Now that the Champions League Round of 16 second leg against Napoli in 10 days being the biggest game of the season, the challenge will be to display the same level of game craft in the pitch. Before this they will have to clear another big hurdle, the Athletic who emerged as a formidable force when they eliminated Barça in the Copa del Rey. Ever since then they have been cruising well, with
their impressive wins against Girona and Atlético Madrid, the exception of a defeat from Real Betis.
Valverde’s team has become one of the most strong and formidable force in europe. They are too well in strategizing and pressing for early goals. They havecracked the winning formula which takes the fight right into the territory of theenemy. This early scoring strategy gets them going and creates devastatingeffects for the opponent side. Barca has seen and faced this onslaught before.
Nico got suspended in this game but still a lot is in Athletic’s weaponry to bring the game in their favour.
For Barca the strategy lies in braving the initial onslaught of Athletics. The Catalans cannot lose the ball in their own half early on, and must be patient and clinical against a very well-organized Bilbao defense to get enough goals to
clinch all three points.
Two old rivals are set to clash again. La Liga's best and most entertaining show is about to come.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsí, Araujo, Cancelo;
Christensen, De Jong; Yamal, Gündogan, Pedri; Lewandowski
Athletic (4-2-3-1): Simón; De Marcos, Paredes, Yeray, Lekue; Prados, Vesga; I.
Williams, Sancet, Berenguer; Guruzeta