Athletic Club Bilbao (9th, 35 points) vs FC Barcelona (1st, 64 points)*
*ranking at time of writing
match/round: 2025-26 La LigaGame 27
Barcelona out and doubts: Alejandro Balde, Garvey, Andreas Christensen, Frenkie de Jong, Jules Conde (out)
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Movement out and doubt: Yere Alvarez, Nico Williams, Unai Eguilus, Maroán Sannadi, Benat Prados (out)
Barcelona Table Guide:LLWWW
Exercise Form Guide:LWWDL
date/time: Saturday 7 March 2026, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona and Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (US), 1.30am IST (Sunday, India)
site: san mamesBilbao, Basque Country, Spain
referee:José Luis Munuela Montero
VAR:Valentin Pizarro Gomez
How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), SuperSport (Nigeria), mobilestar (Spain), others
How to watchonline: ESPN+ (US), Disney Plus (UK), FanCode (India), Mobilestar+ (Spain), others
After a win over Atletico Madrid in midweek, it wasn’t enough to secure a place in the league Copa del Rey In the final, Barcelona returns to kick off its annual journey from hell, as the Catalans take on historic rivals Athletic Bilbao at the Cathedral. san mames saturday night football.
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Real Madrid’s last-second win on Friday reduced Barca’s gap at the top of the table to one point, so the Catalans know only victory in the Basque Country can restore their four-point advantage as the title race heats up.
Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao are both coming off heartbreaking knockout runs Copa del Rey Despite being knocked out of the semi-finals in midweek, the Catalans feel much better about themselves than an Athletic side who failed to score over two legs and will watch their arch-rivals Real Sociedad compete for the trophy next month.
Athletic no longer participates in the Champions League, so complete La Liga A dignified season is their only goal, and a very inconsistent season full of injuries and surprising defeats makes it almost impossible for the Bilbao club to reach Europe’s top leagues next season. Ernesto Valverde hasn’t done a great job coaching either, as this season’s team hasn’t shown the same ruthless, suffocating, intense dominance we saw last season.
Barcelona have won convincingly against Athletic Bilbao twice this season, including a 5-0 victory in the Spanish Super Cup two months ago. but this is san mamesUnlike last season, in the 380th and final league game of the 2024-25 season, both teams had nothing to play for. Barcelona easily defeated the Athletic team who were preparing for a vacation 3-0, and Saturday’s game promises to be a real battle.
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Athletic will be desperate for a result and are actually in solid form in the league, having gone into this game on a five-game unbeaten run. They almost always bring their best against Barca, and when the players feed off their energy and turn up the intensity and pressure against the Catalans, the crowd’s performance makes a real difference.
Barca will also not be showing their strongest squad, as Hansi Flick has hinted that the squad will be rotated after the physical exertion against Atletico Madrid and before the Champions League tie against Newcastle, so Athletic Bilbao will play against slightly weaker teams Blaugrana The team is missing two key fullbacks and may be missing some superstars in the starting lineup.
Restoring a four-point deficit against Madrid would be great, but one could argue a point san mames Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It will still maintain a relatively healthy advantage at the top of the table and keep Barca’s fate in its own hands, especially at home El Clasico Coming later in the season. Considering all the absences and the big European games coming up, not losing this game certainly wouldn’t be a tragedy. But this is Barca and we know they will still be looking to win as always.
This will be fun. Let’s dance.
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possible lineup
Barcelona(4-3-3): Joan; Eric, Kubasi, Martin, Cancelo; Fermin, Casado, Olmo; Yamal, Ferran, Rashford
Sports(4-2-3-1): Simon; Vivian, Paredes, Laporte, Yuri; Gallaretta, Jaureguizar; I. Williams, Sansette, Berenguer; Guruzeta
prophecy
This could be the worst competitive version Barca will face san mames It’s been a long time but this is still sporty san mames This game is not easy. As I said before, a point wouldn’t be the worst result in the world, but I choose to bet on a rotated and slightly weaker Barcelona to somehow get the job done: 3-2 for the visitors.