Athletic Club Bilbao (9th, 35pts) vs FC Barcelona (1st, 64pts)*
*Standings at the time of writing
Competition/Round: 2025-26 La Liga, Matchday 27
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Alejando Balde, Gavi, Andreas Christensen, Frenkie de Jong, Jules Kounde (out)
Athletic Outs & Doubts: Yeray Álvarez, Nico Williams, Unai Eguiluz, Maroan Sannadi, Beñat Prados (out)
Barcelona Form Guide: LLWWW
Athletic Form Guide: LWWDL
Date/Time: Saturday, March 7, 2026, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Sunday)
Venue: San Mamés, Bilbao, Basque
Country, Spain
Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero
VAR: Valentín Pizarro Gómez
How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), Disney Plus (UK), FanCode (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a great win over Atlético Madrid in midweek that wasn’t quite enough to secure a spot in the Copa del Rey Final, Barcelona return to action for what is an annual trip to hell as the Catalans face historic rivals Athletic Bilbao at the Cathedral of San Mamés on Saturday Night Fútbol.
Real Madrid’s last-second win on Friday reduced Barça’s gap at the top of the standings to one point, so the Catalans know that only a victory in the Basque Country will be enough to restore their four-point advantage as the title race enters its stretch run.
Both Barça and Athletic are coming off heartbreaking eliminations in the Copa del Rey semi-finals in midweek, but the Catalans are feeling a lot better about themselves despite going out of the Cup compared to an Athletic side that couldn’t score a goal over two legs and will watch their bitter rivals Real Sociedad play for the trophy next month.
Athletic are no longer in the Champions League so finishing the La Liga season with dignity is their only goal, and a very inconsistent campaign filled with injuries and surprising losses have made it virtually impossible for the Bilbao club to make it into Europe’s top competition next season. Ernesto Valverde hasn’t done a great coaching job either, as this season’s team don’t show the same ruthless, suffocating, intense edge that we saw all of last season.
Barça have won both meetings with Athletic this season in pretty convincing fashion, including a 5-0 destruction in the Spanish Super Cup two months ago. But this is San Mamés, and unlike last season when both teams had nothing to play for in the 380th and final league game of 2024-25 and Barça comfortably won 3-0 against an Athletic side that was ready to go on vacation, Saturday’s game promises to be a real battle.
Athletic will be desperate for a result and are actually in solid form in the league, unbeaten in five as they arrive in this matchup. They almost always bring their very best to clashes with Barça, and the crowd makes a real difference as the players feed off their energy and up their intensity and pressure against the Catalans.
Barça will also not feature their strongest possible lineup as Hansi Flick has already hinted at rotations for this one after the physical exertions against Atlético and ahead of the monster Champions League game against Newcastle, so Athletic will go up against a slightly weaker Blaugrana side missing their two main full-backs and likely a few more of their superstars in the starting lineup.
Restoring the four-point gap over Madrid would be great, but one could argue a point at San Mamés wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It would still maintain a relatively healthy advantage at the top and would keep Barça’s fate in their own hands, especially with a home Clásico to come later in the season. Given all the absences and the giant European game ahead, not losing this one will certainly not be a tragedy. But this is Barça, and we know they’ll still go out looking to win as they always do.
This will be fun. Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Joan; Eric, Cubarsí, Martín, Cancelo; Fermín, Casadó, Olmo; Yamal, Ferran, Rashford
Athletic (4-2-3-1): Simón; Vivian, Paredes, Laporte, Yuri; Galarreta, Jauregizar; I. Williams, Sancet, Berenguer; Guruzeta
PREDICTION
This is possibly the worst version of Athletic that Barça will face at San Mamés in quite a while, but this is still Athletic at San Mamés and the game won’t be easy. As I said earlier a point wouldn’t be the worst result in the world, but I’m choosing to bet on a rotated and slightly weaker Barça to somehow get the job done: 3-2 to the visitors.
