Athletic Bilbao – Barcelona: league leaders Barça want to keep the run going 
This Saturday night Barcelona head to the cathedral of San Mamés with one clear target: a third straight LaLiga win. Top of the table, four points clear of their big Madrid rivals, Hansi Flick’s side face ninth-placed Athletic Bilbao — a team still sniffing a top-six spot but smarting from a knockout cup blow.
The Basque Lions now only have the league 
That cup exit hurts. Knocked out this week in the Copa del Rey semi by Real Sociedad, Ernesto Valverde’s men have little choice but to put it all into the league. And on that front, they’re riding a decent wave: 10 points from the last four rounds.
Still ninth, five points shy of Celta Vigo in sixth, Bilbao know Champions League is a mountain — 16 points away — so the realistic aim is domestic pride. At San Mamés they’re no pushover: 23 points from 13 home games this season. The snag? Barça have been their bogey side. Athletic have lost five straight to Barcelona, including a thumping 5-0 in the Spanish Super Cup in January 2026. Even worse: the last time Bilbao beat Barcelona in LaLiga at San Mamés was back in August 2019.
Barcelona, a goal machine 
Barça also had a bitter night in the Copa del Rey. A gutsy 3-0 second-leg win over Atlético couldn’t erase a disastrous 4-0 first leg, and that was that — out of the cup.
No harm done to the mood in the league, though. They’ve put things right by beating Villarreal and Levante, wiping out a sloppy slip at Girona (2-1) in mid-February. Sitting proudly top of LaLiga with 21 wins from 26 games, Barcelona are the team everyone wants to stop in this run-in. Up front they’re humming — 71 goals already this season. They’re also rock-solid away (second-best record in the country) but have still lost four on the road.
Probable lineups
Athletic Bilbao : Simon ; Vivian, Paredes, Laporte, Boiro ; Rego, Ruiz de Galarreta ; I Williams, Sancet, Berenguer ; Guruzeta
Barcelona : J Garcia ; Cancelo, Cubarsi, E Garcia, Martin ; Bernal, Pedri ; Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha ; F Torres
Football Tip Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona
Barcelona to win
Bilbao are confident in the league and a draw in the boiling cauldron of San Mamés is far from impossible on paper.
But against this Barcelona attack — fast, clinical, relentless — Bilbao’s back line looks like it will snap at some point. The Catalans usually boss these head-to-heads, and it’s hard to see the leaders throwing away precious points this weekend. Expect Barça to do the damage.
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