Athletic Bilbao – Barcelona

Barcelona look favoured as the Basques are tired

Athletic, after their historic run to the King's Cup final, will take on Barcelona at home. In the Spanish league, both teams are fighting to qualify for the Champions League, although the Catalans still have a theoretical chance to win the title. A very important match from a tournament point of view. Barcelona came to life after Xavi announced his retirement. Since then, results have improved significantly. The Catalans managed to win four meetings out of six and got two draws. Importantly, there is qualitative game progress. Barcelona are scoring a lot again, Robert Lewandowski is claiming victory in the scorer's race, Joao Feliz came alive in the game against Getafe. In the Champions League against Napoli, the Catalans also operated with a big advantage. In February, Xavi's side had the third best attack in La Liga in terms of chances created and the second best defence. There are positives on the injury front as well. Almost all key players have recovered from injuries. The participation of Ferran Torres is in doubt. Alex Balde and Marcos Alonso remain in the infirmary in two. Everyone else is ready to play. There are no new injuries. Athletic last round away lost to Betis, but there is a logical explanation for this negative result. The team simply saved their strength for the return semi-final of the Cup against Atletico. The game in Bilbao was outstanding. The match will definitely go down in the history of the team. The Basques demolished one of the best defences in Europe with a score of 3-0. The game turned into a benefit for the Williams brothers. Iñaki and Nico organized two beautiful goals. It is clear that the focus from the championship is now shifting slightly towards the King's Cup. With one match left before the title, it is unlikely that Athletic will quit playing in the championship. The final is still more than a month away. Some influence on the results in La Liga can be looked for at the end of the month. Another issue is that there may not be enough energy for two top matches. Athletic plays with a very limited squad. The coach uses one scheme, not all positions have quality reserves. The situation for the club is also complicated by two disqualifications. The main defender Vivian and Nico Williams will miss the confrontation with Barcelona. These are very significant losses. Also injured is the main left-back Berciche and experienced veteran Herrera. That is, it turns out that Valverde will not have three of the main players. The rest will play on the background of fatigue. In this scenario, it is logical to expect Barcelona to beat their opponents in the second half. The Catalans are in good shape and have a large squad. Athletic simply will not have time to recover, and the reserves are just much weaker than the basics.