Barcelona wants to keep their hopes alive of winning six trophies in a single year, just like they did back in 2009. In order to do that, Los Blaugranas will have to bounce back from one of the poorest defending weeks in the history of the club, after conceding eight goals in their first two official games of the season. On the other hand, Athletic Bilbao is on the verge of breaking their curse against Barcelona, since they have never been able to defeat Los Culés when a trophy is at stake.
Last Friday, a long distance goal by Mikel San José and a hat-trick by Aritz Aduriz led the way for Los Leones against the powerful team coached by Luis Enrique. Will they be able to hold on to their lead?
Barcelona
Prior to Friday's game, los Blaugranas had not lost against Athletic for almost two years. Their latest loss against the red-and-white outfit came on December of 2013, when Los Leones defeated Barcelona 1-0. For the upcoming match, Luis Enrique might be able to start defender Gerard Piqué, who missed the game after playing the whole 120 minutes of the UEFA Super Cup match. This will be the third game in less than a week for Luis Enrique's crew, and it might end up costing them their fifth title of the year.
The attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez will be incomplete once more, since the Brazilian striker is still recovering from mumps. Jordi Alba will also be unavailable after picking up an injury during the Joan Gamper trophy match against Roma, while recent additions Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal have not been registered to play due to a transfer ban that forbids Barcelona to register any new players until January 2016.
Athletic Bilbao
Things are looking better than ever for Los Leones de San Mamés, but they can't believe for a second they have already won. The same intensity and concentration will be required from them if they want to take their second Super Copa home. For Monday's game, Athletic will still have a lot of absences in their lineup, including talented midfielder Iker Muniain and the quick Inaki Williams, both out due to injuries.
Whatever chances the Lions hold against their hosts will rely on what Aritz Aduriz can do up front. The Basque striker is currently living one of his best moments as a professional, with back-to-back seasons as the team's top scorer. His display on Friday evening lets us think that, if he steps into the pitch with a little bit of luck, he might be the key to Athletic's survival.
After the game, Athletic's coach Ernesto Valverde spoke about what his team should do in order to keep their four-goal lead against a very dangerous opponent.
Team sheets for Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao
Barcelona's Starting XI: Bravo, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Alves, Pedro, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Mascherano, Mathieu.
Athletic's Starting XI: Iraizoz, De Marcos, Etxeita, Laporte, Balenziaga, Gurpegui, Beñat, Eraso, Bóveda, Susaeta, Aduriz.
Barcelona's subs: Ter Stegen, Rafinha, Bartra, Sandro, Munir, Sergi Roberto, Vermaelen.
Athletic's subs: Elustondo, Kike Sola, Iago Herrerín, Mikel Rico, Aketxe, Sabin, Lekue
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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