Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao: Predicted starting XI for a must win game
After stumbling against Sevilla, Barcelona have no margin for error.
Barcelona will play their fourth match of the La Liga restarts against Athletic Bilbao at the Camp Nou.
With the two points dropped against Sevilla, coupled with Real Madrid’s win over Real Sociedad, the Catalans head into the match tied atop the standings but behind their bitter rivals due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
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What this means is that Quique Setien’s men cannot afford to drop any more points if they want to have a shot at winning the league title.
This season, the team has been far better at home than on the road. But they are going to have their hands full with an Athletic Bilbao side that beat them in the first game of the campaign.
Barcelona did not look at all impressive in the last home match against Leganes where they had to battle to a 2-0 win. Plenty has also been said about their performance in the draw against Sevilla.
Unfortunately for Setien, he will once again be without both Sergi Roberto and Frenkie de Jong.
According to ESPN, the Dutch midfielder is suffering from a calf strain and there is no set timetable for his possible return.
To cover for the absence of Roberto, Setien has called up Barça B right-back Dani Morer to back up Nelson Semedo. Other than those two injured players, everyone else should be available for the match.
The likes of Junior Firpo, Samuel Umtiti, Arturo Vidal and Luis Suarez are one yellow card away from suspension. Should any of them feature and pick up a yellow card, they would miss the game away to Celta Vigo.
But the focus is on Athletic Bilbao. How could Barcelona line-up and will it look any different to the side that faced Sevilla?