Athletic Bilbao pride themselves on making San Mames a difficult venue for any side to visit, and even Barcelona will not find life at all simple when they visit the Basque arena on Saturday evening.
Los Leones had started the season in rather mundane form, picking up one win, one draw and one defeat in their opening three matches, but after Tuesday evening’s fine 3-0 success at home to Mallorca they will be in confident mood. David Lopez opened the scoring only seconds before the break, and once Mikel San Jose had converted a second half penalty the result was a mere formality. Still, the hosts finished with a deserved flourish thanks to Inigo Perez’s late strike.
“I'm very happy,” coach Joaquin Caparros grinned. “Now it's up to us to recover and prepare for a nice game on Saturday against Barcelona. If we get it right we can get a positive result against the best team in Europe.
“We were better defensively, we have not been troubled at any time and our persistence helped us get the first goal.”
Atletico Madrid have already gone to San Mames and picked up three points this season, but the hosts are rarely hospitable. Real Madrid failed to win at the venue last season, and the same can also be said for Barcelona, who could only pick up a 1-1 draw. Los Leones would probably settle for a repeat result on Saturday.
Perfect Attitude
Barcelona’s form at the outset of the Primera Division season has been questioned on the back of a shock defeat to Hercules, but Pep Guardiola’s side have otherwise stood up well to the rigours of league football in the opening month of the campaign.
The defending champions bounced back from their eyebrow-raising loss impressively last weekend, defeating a much-praised Atletico Madrid 2-1 away from home. An injury to Lionel Messi rather blighted their trip to the capital, but la Blaugrana shrugged off that blow in midweek, when they were able to overcome Sporting Gijon 1-0 at Camp Nou.
A solitary strike from David Villa was all that Barca could muster, and although Guardiola was certainly not blown away by his side’s performance, he appeared pleased that they had the guts to come through unscathed.
“The attitude has been perfect and I'm sure the next day we'll do better,” he mused. “This time we didn't get after the opposition which is what you need to do against opponents who sit back and don't come at you. We lacked a second goal which would have given us peace.”
Guardiola has hinted that the World Cup, which disrupted pre-season preparations, is particularly hurting his side at this hectic time of the season. “This is the way it goes and we have to get used to it,” he stated. “The worst thing, rather than the accumulation of matches is the lack of training. There are players who are still lacking strength and endurance work.”
Once Athletic are out the way, the difficult run of fixtures Barcelona are presently in the midst of continues in midweek, when they meet Rubin Kazan in the Champions League in Russia.
Athletic
Toquero remains absent due to injury, though home boss Joaquin Caparros should otherwise be able to name his strongest line-up to face Barcelona. Susaeta, who was on the bench in midweek, may well be the man to play closest to Fernando Llorente in attack.
Barcelona
Pep Guardiola has not pushed his side too hard following their midweek exploits. Lionel Messi will be absent once again due to his ankle injury, which is expected to keep him out until the middle of next week, while Carles Puyol and Xavi have both been in the gym doing specific recovery work.
Prediction
As ever, life will be tough for the Catalans against their Basque opponents. The direct, physical approach adopted by the home side certainly won’t be to Barca’s liking, and without Lionel Messi to open up the home defence it could be a long 90 minutes for the guests. However, Atletico Madrid have already won at San Mames, and la Blaugrana still possess the weapons to match that achievement.
Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Barcelona 
