Despite conceding the first goal, Barcelona manages to outscore Valencia in their opening match to start the season in a positive way. Their Polish striker Lewandowski touched the back of the net twice to score past Valencia’s one. However, they will still be searching for a highly motivating victory.
Meanwhile, Bilbao was big favorites to seal a win in their opening match against Getafe at home. The team started off well with a 27th minute goal from the Spanish midfielder Oihan Sancetbut couldn’t hold on to it as they conceded one in the second half to end the match in a 1-1 draw.
Moving on, Barcelona has been the dominant force in the recent history of this match-up. They are one a 13-match unbeaten streak against Bilbao in the head-to-head. Also, Barcelona won the last four clashes against Bilbao at this stadium in a row. Also, Barcelona has kept a clean sheet in the last three clashes against Bilbao at this venue while scoring 9.
Additionally, Bilbao is having an inconsistent away form at the moment, following a three-match losing streak. In fact, they lost seven of the last 10 road trips, but has scored in four of them which is noteworthy. By the looks of things, we expect a pleasant day for the local supporters at Estadi Olimpic Liuis Companys on Saturday.
Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction
Since Barcelona have an upper hand in the tradition, we expect a comfortable win for them on Saturday against this Bilbao side. Four of the last five home matches of Barcelona had goals over 2.5 ft. Also, they have been scoring goals at an impressive rate of late. Thus, we expect an over 2.5 goals display in this match.
Furthermore, the recent home match-ups of Barcelona forces us to back the both teams to score option as they have been consistent in leaking goals which is different from their h2h recordings against Bilbao. They have allowed goals in the last three away matches.
