Barcelona has twice as much points on their account after three quarters of the championship, which clearly show how this season looks and therefore we cannot even say that this is a special derby. We cannot even say that this is a duel of teams that play in European competitions, because Athletic was eliminated in the round of sixteen of European Cup this Thursday after two defeats from Marseille, while Barcelona without a problem got in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The Catalans have three wins in the row, and the Basques have only one in the previous five duels. Barcelona has celebrated in the first half of the championship in Bilbau with 2-0.
Three important matches are behind Barcelona and it can be said that they have passed the exam with the highest score. The first important duel was the derby against Atletico, which approached them to five points behind and they need the victory to restore their peace. They achieved it thanks to the brilliant Messi, who scored only three points.
After that, they played against the last-placed Malaga at home and had to confirm their victory at a very unpleasant hosting for Barcelona, but this time they celebrated with 2-0 without any problems, even though they were without Messi. On Wednesday they played a duel in the round of sixteen in the Champions League and they needed a victory after 1-1 in London against Chelsea. They played with 3-0 and Messi was great again, who returned to the team, while Busquets is injured and he will not be in the team for a while.
Probable lineups FC Barcelona: ter Stegen – S.Roberto, Pique, Vermaelen, J.Alba – Paulinho, A.Gomes, Coutinho – Messi, L.Suarez
From Thursday it is clear that this season is completely over for Athletic. They were eliminated from the Cup a long time ago, and they are struggling in the championship since the beginning and are mostly in the bottom of the table, and a few days ago their European adventure also ended. It was quite certain that they would be eliminated from Europa League after a defeat at Velodrome from Marseille with 3-1. They hoped they might even make up for it at San Mames, but they have already played nine games in front of their fans in which they did not celebrate.
They did not even defeat the French team, because they lost with 2-1. By the end of the season they only have to hope they can reach some European positions, although their backlog is ten points. In the last round they defeated Leganes in their field with 2-0 and the hero was Raul Garcia with two goals but he was not in the team against Marseille because of the suspension. For the same reason San Jose did not play, but we now expect both of them in the team, while M.Rico, Muniain and Balenziaga are all still out of action.
Probable lineups Athletic Bilbao: Arrizabalaga – de Marcos, Etxeita, I.Martinez, Lekue – San Jose, Benat – M.Susaeta, Raul Garcia, Williams – Aduriz
Barcelona is in a new rush and they do not want their advantage at the top of the table to be reduced so they will play with full strength in this duel while Athletic this season shows too much weakness and judging by it all, they will not have the best time at Nou Camp.
Pick: Asian Handicap -2
Barcelona 1.7 - 7/10 @1XBet