Last weekend, FC Barcelona moved four points clear at the top of La Liga table and they'll be hoping things stay that way for another week. Second placed Real Madrid have already played, narrowly beating Celta 2-1 with an injury time winner on Friday, meaning that the gap has hopefully only temporarily been narrowed to one point.

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The Catalans come into the weekend in good form, having just beaten Levante 3-0 and Villarreal 4-1 in the league, and on Tuesday they again impressed in a 3-0 win over Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey semi-final, coming within one goal of achieving a historic comeback from a four-goal deficit.

Sadly, Barça will not be going to the final. And neither will their opponents this Saturday in a 9pm CET kick-off at San Mamés. Athletic Club were beaten by fellow Basque outfit, and with their Champions League adventure also over, all they have left to concentrate on now is the league.

And things are picking up under former Barça boss Ernesto Valverde. After a dismal run of six games without a win, Atletic have won three of their last four (against Levante, Oviedo and Elche), having drawn 1-1 with Rayo Vallecano in their most recent league outing. In fact, only Barça have a better record than los leones in the last five weeks of Liga play and they are now ninth, well out of the running for a Champions League place but still in contention for one of the other continental cups.

Two big wins

In one of the oldest fixtures in Spanish football, Barça have often struggled at San Mamés, but things have been very much going to plan in recent years. They haven't lost a league fixture at the Cathedral since the opening day of the 2019/20 season, with three wins and a draw since then. But they did lose 4-2 in Bilbao in a Copa del Rey encounter in 2024.

The Catalans achieved big wins in the two previous meetings this term. They won 4-0 in what was the first ever game in the new-look Spotify Camp Nou and cruised to an extraordinary 5-0 victory in the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. All the same, Hansi Flick was adamant in his pre-game press conference that not too much should be read into those results because "Athletic are a very different team when they play at home."

Team news

At that conference, the coach was able to provide an update on the squad situation. There have been both positive and negative notes this week. Robert Lewandowski is back to full fitness and has been confirmed as available, and Gavi will be joining the team on the trip. The midfielder is still not quite ready to return to duty, but the big day is drawing closer and he is being re-introduced to the first team dynamic.

However, two new injuries resulted from the midweek cup game. Jules Jounde and Aledandro Balde both picked up muscle problems, leaving Hansi Flick with things to think about in defence, where long-term absentee Andreas Christensen is also missing. Further upfield, Frenkie de Jong is not expected to be over his hamstring problem for a few more weeks.

The home team are always a weaker side without Nico Williams, who is out of the game with a groin issue. Athletic will also miss the services of the suspended Yeray Alvarez, with Benat Prados, Unai Egiluz and Maroan Sannadi also unlikely to feature on Saturday.

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