Barcelona host Athletic Club on Sunday with the Catalan giants maintaining pace with Real Madrid at La Liga's summit. Xavi's side returning to winning form on Thursday against Villarreal with a 3-0 win which moved the Blaugrana to within three points of Los Blancos. Robert Lewandowski scored twice as part of a seven-minute blitz which consigned Unai Emery's visitors to defeat. Bilbao are up in sixth but without a win in three in the league and could do with an uptick in form.
Here are our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Sunday, Oct. 23 | Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Spotify Camp Nou -- Barcelona, Spain
- TV: ESPN | Stream: fuboTV (try for free)
- Odds: Barca -175; Draw +320; Bilbao +450 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Storylines
Barca: Aside from an opening day draw with Rayo Vallecano and their loss to Real in El Clasico, Xavi's men have won their other La Liga matches and are competing for top spot with Real. Things have been more complicated in Europe with a drop into the UEFA Europa League a very real possibility. Barca need to keep the wins coming at present and will fancy themselves to take maximum points against Athletic. Andreas Christensen is out and Ronaldo Araujo remains unavailable until December, and Memphis Depay was hoped to return after his recent injury but remains out.
Bilbao: The Basque outfit have suffered a dip in form of late with two draws and a loss to slow down their impressive early season form. Ernesto Valverde will return to Catalonia after returning to San Mames for a third spell as boss but surely will not expect much here. Instead, a draw would be a good result with a point a potential bonus with some more winnable games on the horizon. Ander Capa and Jon Morcillo remain out for Athletic, but there are no other injury worries for the Basques.
Prediction
A tight encounter likely settled by a single goal. However, Barca are likely to be the victors given their impressive overall form domestically. Both teams scoring would not be a huge surprise, but I expect to see Xavi's side winning out at the end. Pick: Barca 2, Athletic 1
