Spanish Super Cup: Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona preview

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August 13th, 2015
Back Spanish Super Cup: Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona preview

Athletic Bilbao play host to Barcelona at San Mames in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup on Friday evening. The two teams will clash three times in just nine days as the second leg will take place on Monday before the weekend match in the first day of the new Primera Liga season. Bilbao and Barcelona have met 51 times and the Catalans have won 33 of those games while the Basques won just seven. The last time Bilbao won against Barcelona was in the 2013-2014 season when they clinched a 1-0 victory at home.

Bilbao finished seventh in the league last season and reached the final of the Copa del Rey, where they were defeated 3-1 by Primera Liga champions Barcelona. They have won the Spanish Super Cup on just one occasion, back in 1984. Bilbao have already started their season in the third qualifying round of the Europa League where they clinched a 2-0 aggregate success over Inter Baku. They have met Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup in 2009 and lost 5-1. Mikel Rico and Ander Iturraspe are injured and will miss out but Kike Sola could make his return.

Barcelona have clinched the European Super Cup this week at the end of a thrilling match against Sevilla, won 5-4 after extra time by Luis Enrique's men. They are the most successful side in the history of the Spanish Super Cup, having clinched the trophy 11 times and finishing as runners-up on eight occasions. Their last success in this competition was in 2013. Jordi Alba and Neymar are unavailable for the match while Andres Iniesta's recovery after the European Super Cup is in doubt.

Probable line-ups:

Bilbao: Iraizoz - Balenziaga, Laporte, Etxeita, Elustondo - Benat, San Jose - Eraso, Sola, De Marcos - Aduriz

Barcelona: Ter Stegen - Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Vermaelen - Busquets, Rakitic, Rafinha - Munir, Messi, Suarez

My prediction: 2-2 draw.

Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:

Bilbao win - 6.50 Draw - 4.50 Barcelona win - 1.44

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