Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao: Prediction, Tips and Odds

Hansi Flick will take charge of Barcelona in a competitive home game for the first time where he will be striving to get the better of one of his predecessors, Ernesto Valverde.

Valverde will be heading back to the city where he led the Catalan giants to two La Liga titles in a three-year stint with Athletic Bilbao.

He won't, however, be going to the Nou Camp, as Barca are still in digs at the Montjuic for the next few months, and that might encourage Valverde to believe that Athletic can spring a surprise. 

Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao betting tips and predictions

Barcelona to win/Both Teams Not To Score - 7/4

Barcelona kicked off the Hansi Flick era with a hard-earned 2-1 win at Valencia last weekend and it doesn't get any easier at home to Athletic Bilbao.

The Catalan giants boast an excellent recent record against Athletic, but the Basques beat Barca en route to winning the Copa del Rey last term and finished fifth in the league with a defensive record bettered only by champions Real Madrid.

The two league matches between them last season were tense affairs, Barca winning the home fixture 1-0 before a 0-0 draw at the San Mames.

The idea that Barcelona win this by a landslide looks fanciful, especially given how much difficulty they had in breaking down Valencia away from home.

Barca's players combined for more than twice as many passes as Valencia, they fired off three times as many shots and won five more corners. Yet they still managed to fall behind and were indebted to Robert Lewandowski's double either side of half-time to secure the three points.

They did look decent enough at the back in the absence of the injured Ronald Araujo and the likes of Raphinha and Lamine Yamal will have better days in front of goal.

Athletic kicked off their season with a 1-1 draw at home to Getafe, a disappointing result and a far from sparkling performance, with Ernesto Valverde's men only conjuring up seven shots.

Two of those came from Spain star Nico Williams off the bench and he will surely start against the club who were keen to sign him earlier in the summer.

That lack of potency up front with Athletic will be a concern to them, but should encourage the belief that Barcelona can win this and keep a clean sheet, which is a 7/4 chance.

Pedri Over 0.5 Shots on Target - 5/4

Pedri came off the bench for the last half hour at the Mestalla on Saturday and got one shot away in a decent cameo.

The 21-year-old is just back from a knee injury sustained at Euro 2024 but having had his first run-out, he can expect to be in Flick's starting eleven against Athletic.

Pedri scored four times last season despite starting only 16 matches and he'll be a key player in the No.10 role as Barca try to unlock tough defences.

The pressure from Barcelona will be intense so expect the shot count to soar with Pedri among those getting in on the act.

Two or three match goals - 1/1

Barcelona should win but it would be a surprise if this turned into a goals feast.

Indeed, there were no goal feasts last week at all with seven of the 10 matches producing either two or three goals.

Athletic are sound enough at the back to stand firm and Barca are wasteful, as demonstrated at Valencia. Back two or three match goals at 1/1.

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Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao odds

Barcelona - 8/13
Draw - 16/5
Athletic Bilbao - 4/1

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.