La Liga
La Liga 19/20 Kicks Off With Athletic Club vs Barcelona Preview
- Date: Friday, August 16, 2019
- Time: 3:00 p.m. (est)
- Network: beIN SPORTS, beIN SPORTS en Español
- Location: Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
- Venue: San Mamés Stadium
- Seating Capacity: 53,289
The new La Liga season will get underway on Friday with an exciting clash between Athletic Club and FC Barcelona. The Basque side will host the reigning champions in the first game of the season at San Mames. Barcelona will be eager to get their title defense off to a flying start but face a tough task against ‘Los Leones’. Bilbao will fight to better their eight place finish from last season and look to secure a place in European football come the end of this campaign. Gaizka Garitano will look to take Bilbao to new heights after his first season in charge. Barça boss Ernesto Valverde will be anxious to put last season’s unfortunate end behind him and start fresh with a bolstered squad.
Team News
The hosts Bilbao will have a highly capable squad to field. The only absentees may include Ibai Gomez and Inigo Martinez due to slight discomfort. Garitano will have plenty of options at his disposal.
The visitors however, have suffered a rather major blow. Due to a calf injury in training, Lionel Messi will most likely miss the opener as a precaution. The Argentine has been recovering steadily but may be rested just in case. New goalkeeper Neto will also be sidelined for about 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery for a fractured bone in his hand. However, Valverde still has a lot of potent attacking options to choose from.
Ones To Watch
For Athletic Bilbao, the most important player will certainly be Inaki Williams. The 25-year-old just signed a new mammoth nine year contract with ‘Los Leones’ and he will certainly hope to show the club that their confidence in him is justified. The Spaniard racked up 13 goals and 4 assists in La Liga. He will be hoping to feed off his partner Aritz Aduriz who may not be as young but is still a very capable goalscorer. Bilbao will also cherish the presence of Benat and Raul Garcia to pull strings in midfield and try and control the game as much as possible against a dangerous Barcelona side.
Barça are obviously missing their superstar Lionel Messi. Last season’s top scorer and joint top assister in La Liga will not be able to make his mark on this game. However, Barcelona still have a very heavy range of weaponry in their arsenal. Most notably, new signings Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie De Jong. The Frenchman and the Dutchman have been really impressive in pre-season and will look to make an impact on their La Liga debuts. Another important figure will be Luis Suarez, who has a good record against Bilbao and is looking in fine shape after pre-season.
Interesting Facts and Prediction (Athletic Club vs Barcelona Preview)
Here are a few interesting tidbits about the game:
- In each of the last 10 La Liga seasons, the reigning champs have not lost their matchday one fixtures (8W, 2D). Barça will look to keep that record intact.
- Athletic Bilbao are winless in their last 11 La Liga meetings against the ‘Blaugrana’ (D2,L9). They have also failed to score in 8 of those meetings.
- This will be the 10th meeting between Barcelona and Bilbao on matchday 1 in La Liga. Barcelona have won 6 of those encounters. Bilbao’s only win in such a fixture came way back in 1949.
In conclusion, this is a terrific game to kickoff the new season. Two hungry teams with fresh ambitions and new faces going head to head in a pulsating encounter. While Bilbao are well rested and Barcelona are missing their captain and talisman, Barça are still the heavy favorites going into this match. It will be a tussle for the champions but they will most likely come out on top.
Prediction: Athletic Club 0-2 FC Barcelona
Written by Aaryan Parasnis
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