Barcelona – Athletic Bilbao

Barcelona will be happy to beat Athletic even with a minimum scoreline

On Sunday, 22 October, Barcelona will play at home against Atletico. The Catalan club is still behind Real Madrid in the championship race. The team has a deficit of three points. Atletic had a good stretch before the international break and broke into the top five. Xavi's wards returned to their favourite matches from last season. The club gave away two games with a score of 1-0. After that, fatigue made itself felt. Problems with the squad also played out. Barcelona had no trouble drawing with Girona. The Catalan grandee is experiencing great difficulties with the squad. Xavi has almost a whole team of injured performers. Kunde and Roberto will definitely not be able to play. The loss of the Frenchman is crucial for the defence. In the middle line there is no possibility to count on De Jong. The Dutchman is the main player for Xavi's ideas. In attack there will be no Lewandowski and Rafinha. Injuries are the key point for Barcelona before this meeting. Pedri is also in doubt. In other words, half of the main players are absent. Let's add fatigue after the matches in the national team. Xavi hasn't had a chance to get the squad together for full training. Athletic started badly, losing to Real Madrid, but then gradually came to the design capacity. The Basques will fight for fourth place in the current season. Such potential the collective has. There were several confident victories. Defence is one of the best in the league. Athletic did not miss in five matches of the Spanish championship. If you take the number of allowed XG at their gates, only Atletico has better indicators than the Basques. Ernesto Valverde's wards have conceded a total of nine goals, but the context is important here. There was a disappointing encounter against Real Sociedad. A significant difference compared to last season is the attack. Here, Athletic are also one of the top four teams in La Liga. The Williams brothers and another great talent Sunset create a triangle that is dangerous for any opponent in the championship. Systemically important veteran Ander Herrera has started to play an important role in the centre of the pitch. Barcelona are unlikely to be ready for a very easy win. Athletic can close competently. Without Lewandowski, De Jong and Rafinha, Xavi has far fewer options in attack. In attack, expect a trio of Yamal-Torres-Feliz. Ferran will take Lewandowski's place. A questionable substitution. With this arrangement, Barcelona is definitely expected to have fewer chances. An important detail is that the Catalans will also have to be wary of quick counterattacks from Williams. Bookmakers give quite high odds for a low total, expecting a productive shootout. There are not many preconditions for such an outcome.