Match Pack: Athletic Club vs FC Barcelona (LaLiga MD27)
Match Pack: Athletic Club vs FC Barcelona (LaLiga MD27)
Everything you need to know as San Mames gets set to host a LaLiga classic
Another LaLiga classic at San Mames as Athletic Club and FC Barcelona go head to head.
With a Copa final place in the bag, Los Leones are now focused on remaining firmly entrenched in the race for European qualification via the league standings.
To do so, they will be looking to beat FC Barcelona and make it eight league wins in a row at The Cathedral.
Match Info
Athletic Club vs FC Barcelona
San Mames, Bilbao
LaLiga EA Sports 23/24 (Matchday 27)
Sunday March 3, 21:00 CET
How to Watch
When and where to watch Sunday's LaLiga EA Sports clash around the world
Team News
Valverde named a 23-man squad for the clash.
Ander Herrera and Yuri Berchiche are injured, while Dani Vivian and Nico Williams are serving suspensions.
Hugo Rincón, Unai Egiluz and Mikel Jauregizar have been called up from Bilbao Athletic as cover.
Valverde's Comments
Catch up with what he had to say at his press conference.
The Opponents
Head coach: Xavi Hernández
The Barça legend took over the hotspot from Ronald Koeman in November 2021. In the 2022/23 season he led the Catalans to the LaLiga title. At the end of January, Xavi announced he would be stepping down as Barcelona boss once the current season is over.
His LaLiga record as managers stands at 80 wins, 22 draws and 26 losses from 128 matches.
Top goalscorer: Robert Lewandowski
The Polish striker has 12 goals in 24 LaLiga appearances so far this season. He won last season's Pichichi trophy after scoring 23 goals in 34 matches.
Recent form: LWDWD
Los Culers have been in fine form of late, only dropping points on one occasion in their last five outings - a 3-3 draw with Granada CF in Catalunya.
Previous Meetings
Being two of three teams in the division to have never been relegated, Athletic and Barça have in every single edition of LaLiga since the first ever season back in 1928/29. Our first encounter at San Mames was a 5-1 win for the Lions.
The Blaugrana have visited Bilbao 92 times in total, with Athletic registering 43 wins, 21 draws and 28 defeats.
Always a difficult tie for both sides, Athletic have won once, drawn twice and lost twice in Barça's last five visits to The Cathedral. Notably, there hasn't been more than a goal's difference in any of those matches.
The last time Athletic defeated Barça at San Mames came at the beginning of the 2019/20 campaign, when Aritz Aduriz scored a bicycle kick in the 88th minute to bag all three points.