Barcelona vs Ath. BilbaoPrediction, probable lineups, recent form & season stats

LaLiga kicks off at Camp Nou with Barcelona hosting Athletic Club on matchday one. In the last five meetings Barcelona have won every single one, from 5-0 and 4-0 wins down to a 1-0 win last March, without ever conceding to Athletic. Over the summer, the Catalans had mixed results in their friendlies: a 2-2 draw at Birmingham, a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, a 0-1 loss to Udinese and a 5-2 win over Basel, before closing out with a 2-1 win over Al Ahly. Athletic Club, by contrast, started their preparation with back-to-back 3-0 wins over Racing Santander and Burgos, but closed it out with three straight defeats, to Marseille, Atalanta and finally Zaragoza. The league average sits at 2.50 goals per game. The prediction may change in the hours before kick-off. Confirmed line-ups, late injuries, suspensions, rotation ahead of other fixtures and the state of the pitch and the weather can all alter the picture described above. In those cases the selection may be reviewed and updated within 12 to 24 hours of the match: this happens rarely, but when it does, the version published on this page is always the current one. The data and assessments here are provided for information and statistical purposes.