PREVIEW | Athletic Club v FC Barcelona
The world's eyes were on San Mamés this week as it hosted the Europa League final, won in the end by Tottenham Hotspur. And the same stadium is now the venue on Sunday 25 May at 9pm CEST for the last game of the Barça season.
The pressure is off for both sides. Barça have already sewn up the Liga title and Athletic Club are already assured of a top five finish and a place in next season's Champions League. It's the first time the Basques have sat at European football's top table for eleven years, achieved with a 2-0 win at Getafe, and for the home fans this game doubles as a chance to celebrate that achievement.
With the actual result of little major importance to either side, it means they can go out and enjoy themselves before packing their boots away for a few weeks and enjoying a well-earned break.
Head to head
The last three league fixtures between these teams at San Mamés have been tight, low-scoring affairs, but Barça have always come home with something to show for their efforts. Three seasons ago, the game ended 1-1, then Barça edged a 1-0 win and last season there was a 0-0 draw.
Barça also won the reverse fixture at the Estadi Olimpic earlier this season, 2-1 with goals from Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski.
Team news
Marc Bernal, as feared, has now missed almost the entire campaign after getting off to such an impressive start in the first few games of the season. Jules Kounde is also unavailable for this one and Ferran Torres is still recovering from an appendicitis operation that has meant he has had to sit out the final games of the year.
Last week, in the 3-2 defeat at home to Villarreal, many had expected Hansi Flick to play some of his less-used players. But as it turned out, and despite the outcome of the game being of only academic importance, he stuck to an almost full-strength starting XI. So, it's hard to know what kind of team we can expect to see wearing blaugrana on Sunday.
Athletic also have few fitness concerns, but there are question marks over both Yeray Álvarez and Nico Williams.
Form guide
Barça were unbeaten in the league in 2025 until they lost to Villarreal last week, and although the points don't really matter, they won't want to end such a successful campaign with back-to-back defeats. Also, having scored 99 league goals this season, they would dearly love to at least get the one they need to break into treble figures.
What's more, Barça have the joint-best away record in Europe's big five leagues. They're currently matched with Atalanta on 42 points on the road, but the Italians have no more away games to play, so one point would earn Barça fans something else to add to their long list of things to brag about in 2024/25.
As for Robert Lewandowski's bid to win the pichichi, he goes into the final game four goals behind Kylian Mbappé, so barring a miracle display in Bilbao, it looks like the Pole is going to miss out on the award this time round.
The side managed by former Barça boss Ernesto Valverde have just strung together wins against each of Alaves, Getafe and Valencia, and without conceding a single goal in the process, so winning this will be far from easy.