FC Barcelona are away to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday night at 9.00pm (CET), and on the same weekend as the Madrid derby, this could be a key game in deciding the ultimate outcome of the Liga title. The visitors are in a buoyant mood after winning their last eight official matches.
Since starting the year with defeat at Anoeta, Barça have done nothing but win both in the league and cup. The upshot of that is that they’re second in the former and into the semi-finals of the latter, where they will face Villarreal. In doing so, they have scored an astonishing 29 goals and conceded just five.
Back to San Mamés
But Barça have not won a league game in Bilbao since the 2010/11 season, when they won 3-1 with goals from Xavi, Keita and Sergio. The last three visits have resulted in two draws and one defeat.
Both the game in 2011/12 and the one in 2012/13 ended 2-2, with Messi featuring prominently in both. Last season was Barça’s first visit to the brand new San Mamés, but there was disappointment for Tata Martino as well. Barça lost 1-0. The Basques are currently twelfth in the league table and through to the cup semi-finals, where they’ll face Espanyol.
