Football Previews
Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona
Competition – Spanish Primera
Stadium – San Mamés
Date: 16th August 2019
Kick-off time – 20:00 GMT
Barcelona begin their La Liga campaign with this tough away game against Athletic Bilbao and the Catalans would be keen to start on a solid note.
With Atletico Madrid going through a solid run of form in the pre-season, Barcelona has to feel threatened by their neighbours in Madrid who have just sold them their best player, Antoine Griezmann.
The French man is expected to form a deadly attacking team that could also include Neymar if rumours are to be believed.
Griezmann seems to have brought out the best from Luis Suarez and it should be awesome to see them form the kind of chemistry that Messi, Suarez and Neymar formed while they played together.
Having just secured the next nine years of Inaki Williams, Athletic Bilbao will be hoping that the attacker can now fire them into becoming one of the biggest teams in Spain.
They have had mixed results in their pre-season games and come here after beating Mirandes 2-1. That was only their 3rd win inside 90 minutes in pre-season so far and their fans would be hoping that they can have a good start here.
Bookmakers have priced Barcelona up as odds-on favourites to come out on top in this game however the odds are relatively close compared to previous seasons where Barca would be long odds-on prior to kick-off.
Goal markets point to an open game as over 2.5 goals is currently trading odds-on prior to kick-off while Lionel Messi is clear favourite to score the opening goal of the game.
Other fixtures taking place this week in the Spanish Primera:
| December 22, 2024 | ||
| Valencia | 14:00 | Alaves |
| Real Madrid | 16:15 | Sevilla |
| Leganes | 18:30 | Villarreal |
| Las Palmas | 18:30 | Espanyol |
| Real Betis | 21:00 | Rayo Vallecano |
| January 3, 2025 | ||
| Valencia | 21:00 | Real Madrid |
| January 10, 2025 | ||
| Rayo Vallecano | 21:00 | Celta Vigo |
| January 11, 2025 | ||
| Alaves | 14:00 | Girona |
| Real Valladolid | 16:15 | Real Betis |
| Espanyol | 18:30 | Leganes |
| Sevilla | 21:00 | Valencia |
| January 12, 2025 | ||
| Las Palmas | 14:00 | Getafe |
| Atlético de Madrid | 16:15 | Osasuna |
| January 13, 2025 | ||
| Real Sociedad | 21:00 | Villarreal |
| January 17, 2025 | ||
| Espanyol | 21:00 | Real Valladolid |
| January 18, 2025 | ||
| Osasuna | 14:00 | Rayo Vallecano |
| Leganes | 16:15 | Atlético de Madrid |
| Celta Vigo | 18:30 | Athletic Bilbao |
| Getafe | 21:00 | Barcelona |
Spanish Primera Table
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | G | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atlético de Madrid | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 33 | 12 | +21 | 41 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 19 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 51 | 22 | +29 | 38 |
| 3 | Real Madrid | 17 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 37 | 16 | +21 | 37 |
| 4 | Athletic Bilbao | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 29 | 17 | +12 | 36 |
| 5 | Mallorca | 19 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 19 | 21 | -2 | 30 |
| 6 | Villarreal | 17 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 29 | 28 | +1 | 27 |
| 7 | Real Sociedad | 18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 16 | 13 | +3 | 25 |
| 8 | Girona | 18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 26 | 25 | +1 | 25 |
| 9 | Osasuna | 18 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 23 | 27 | -4 | 25 |
| 10 | Celta Vigo | 18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 27 | 28 | -1 | 24 |
| 11 | Real Betis | 17 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 20 | 21 | -1 | 24 |
| 12 | Sevilla | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 23 | -5 | 22 |
| 13 | Rayo Vallecano | 17 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 19 | 20 | -1 | 21 |
| 14 | Las Palmas | 17 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 22 | 27 | -5 | 19 |
| 15 | Leganes | 17 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 23 | -8 | 18 |
| 16 | Getafe | 18 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 16 |
| 17 | Alaves | 17 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 28 | -9 | 16 |
| 18 | Espanyol | 17 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 29 | -13 | 15 |
| 19 | Real Valladolid | 18 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 37 | -25 | 12 |
| 20 | Valencia | 16 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 24 | -10 | 11 |
Spanish Primera Results
| December 21, 2024 | ||
| Barcelona | 1 - 2 | Atlético de Madrid |
| Osasuna | 1 - 2 | Athletic Bilbao |
| Celta Vigo | 2 - 0 | Real Sociedad |
| Getafe | 0 - 1 | Mallorca |
| December 20, 2024 | ||
| Girona | 3 - 0 | Real Valladolid |
| December 18, 2024 | ||
| Espanyol | 1 - 1 | Valencia |
| Villarreal | 1 - 1 | Rayo Vallecano |
| December 15, 2024 | ||
| Barcelona | 0 - 1 | Leganes |
| Villarreal | 1 - 2 | Real Betis |
| Real Sociedad | 0 - 0 | Las Palmas |
| Alaves | 1 - 1 | Athletic Bilbao |
| Atlético de Madrid | 1 - 0 | Getafe |
| December 14, 2024 | ||
| Rayo Vallecano | 3 - 3 | Real Madrid |
| Sevilla | 1 - 0 | Celta Vigo |
| Mallorca | 2 - 1 | Girona |
| Espanyol | 0 - 0 | Osasuna |
| December 13, 2024 | ||
| Real Valladolid | 1 - 0 | Valencia |
| December 9, 2024 | ||
| Getafe | 1 - 0 | Espanyol |
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