Three meetings with a side like Athletic Club is too many match-ups in a month. The beef between players gets worse every time they meet, with 90 minute irritations turning into 270 minutes of what may feel like a marriage on the verge of divorce. In fact, it should be unsurprising that Lionel Messi, who collected the only red card of his Blaugrana career in the Spanish Super Cup, won’t be too happy to the Basques again so soon.
RECAP – 3-2 Barcelona win at the start of the month
This was Marcelino’s first match in charge of Athletic Club. He kept a similar formation and personnel, though a side that only transfers in Basque players does have a bit of continuity regardless of who the manager is. Fortunately for Barcelona, Messi brought his scoring boots that day.
RECAP – 3-2 Barcelona fall in the Spanish Super Cup Final
Unfortunately, Athletic Club was the side who won the match-up that may have counted the most. If Barcelona come back and win the La Liga title, the three points at the start of January are more important. More likely, Barcelona’s 3-2 loss in the Spanish Super Cup was the best chance at a trophy this season. The red card for Messi the terrible cherry on top of a terrible Basque sundae.
Since the 3-2 loss to Barcelona, Athletic have won all five matches since, with wins over both members of El Clásico and a 5-1 thumping of Getafe. Marcelino has his players bought in without drastically shifting the team’s style, which can best be described as physical, compact, and capable of individual moments of brilliance. The Basque side still sits in 10th in La Liga, but the new manager has certainly turned things around.
For the Catalans, three points would mean a share of second place in the table with Real Madrid, and ahead on goal differential. If Barcelona find a way to finish over their hated rivals in the table, even though Atlético Madrid are running away with the title, it’s hard to imagine Culers will consider this version of Barcelona as an unmitigated failure.
Both teams are also coming off a midweek wins in the Copa del Rey that saw heavy rotation. It’s back to the stars for this one.
Expected line-ups:
Barcelona (4-3-3): ter Stegen; Alba, Lenglet, Araújo, Dest; Pjanic, de Jong, Pedri; Dembélé, Messi, Griezmann
Athletic Club (4-4-2): Simón; Berchiche, Yeray, Núñez, Capa; Vencedor, García, Berenguer, Muniain; Williams, García
Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017
