Barcelona will travel to San Memes to take on Athletic Bilbao on Saturday evening in their second game of the new La Liga season.
The Catalan club kicked off their new La Liga campaign in blistering form, beating Real Sociedad 4-2 at Camp Nou last weekend. A brace from Martin Braithwaite and goals from Gerard Pique and Sergi Roberto earned Ronald Koeman’s side three points that currently sees them sit third on the table.
Ronald Koeman and co. will be looking to build on that when they are faced with a stern test this weekend in the form of Marcelinho’s Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona have been handed a fitness boost ahead of the Athletic Bilbao clash with defender Oscar Mingueza returning to training on Wednesday morning. The young defender picked up an injury during the Tokyo Olympics with Spain and returned to the club straight away for treatment. However, the game against Bilbao could come too soon for him.
Ansu Fati, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Ousmane Dembele and Sergio Aguero are all out injured, while Miralem Pjanic, Alex Collado, Samuel Umtiti and Philippe Coutinho were left out of the squad against Real Sociedad for tactical reasons.
Goalkeeper
With Ter Stegen sidelined, Neto started in goal against Real Sociedad and is likely to retain his place in the Barcelona lineup on Saturday.
Defence
Koeman is unlikely to tinker with the back four that was generally solid in the win over Sociedad, meaning Sergino Dest, Eric Garcia, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba will all start and aim to keep a clean sheet at San Memes.
Midfield
Sergio Busquets will start in his preferred holding role in the Barcelona lineup and look to take a control of the game at the earliest. Frenkie de Jong and Pedri are very important players for Barcelona and will complete the midfield three.
A top passer of the ball, De Jong possesses the ability to dictate the tempo of the game. Pedri is a young midfielder whose energy, pressing and passing skills make him such a vital cog in Koeman’s system.
Attack
The front three of Antoine Griezmann, Memphis Depay and Martin Braithwaite linked very well and created numerous opportunities in Barcelona’s season opener.
The diligent Braithwaite was the star of the show at Camp Nou with two goals and an assist, and he’ll start on the left flank with Depay and Griezmann taking the other two attacking positions in the Barcelona lineup.
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