La Liga - TV and streaming channels to watch Athletic vs Barcelona

August 15, 2019 By Oscar Rojas

Topics: La Liga, Athletic Club, Barcelona, TV Schedules, TV Listings

Los culés kick off the competition with a three-peat in mind, but there are some issues to be solved by Valverde's men if they want to claim all the points against Los Leones.

What is Athletic and Barcelona's form ahead of this match?

Athletic only played three friendly games during the offseason, and Los Leones managed to stay unbeaten in all of them. Their most recent clash saw the Basque side claim a win after penalties against West Ham United.

Barcelona gets to this game after five friendly games played. Los Blaugranas claimed three wins, in the recent matches, but lost the first two against Vissel Kobe and Chelsea. Their latest clash concluded in a 4-0 win against Napoli, which marked Antoine Griezmann's goalscoring debut.

Athletic vs Barcelona - Who's in and who's out

Coach Gaizka Garitano could be forced to prepare this game without four players. Gorka Guruzeta has been ruled out of this match, while Íñigo Martínez, Íñigo Córdoba and Ibai Gómez will be assessed before the game to determine their availability.

Barcelona will have one massive absence for this game, as Lionel Messi will not be around to play due to a calf injury. Backup goalie Neto has also been ruled out, while Frenkie de Jong will be evaluated before the game to see if he is fit to play. Added to those absences, coach Ernesto Valverde decided to leave Arturo Vidal, Arthur and Jean-Clair Todibo out of the 18-men squad that made the trip to Bilbao.

Athletic vs Barcelona - Head-to-head stats

Athletic enters this match on a 14-game streak without a loss when playing at home. Liverpool has won eight out of the last ten games against Norwich in all comps. The other two concluded in a draw.
Last season's games between these teams concluded in a draw, with the one that was played at San Mamés concluding in a goalless draw.
Athletic has only been able to beat Barcelona in one of their six previous matches at San Mamés Stadium.
Barcelona has only conceded once in their most recent five games against Athletic.

Athletic vs Barcelona - Pre-match talk

Without a doubt, the main topic of discussion ahead of this game was Messi's absence due to injury. The player might be out until the end of the month, and considering how relevant he is to the team, there is no doubt about how pressured his team-mates will be to live up to the expectations placed on this multi-talented squad.

Here's Barcelona's first squad list for the 2019-20 campaign.