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In the 25th round of La Liga on March 7, 2026, Athletic and Barcelona will face off. Another “El Clasico” in which Valverde will try to stop his former team.<\/p>\n
The team from Bilbao climbed to fourth place in La Liga last season\u2014even while actively participating in the Europa League, where they reached the semifinals. This season, they took part in the Champions League, but that campaign was a failure\u2014they did not reach the playoffs. Simultaneously, they suffered a heavy defeat in the Super Cup against the Catalans. Their performance was much better in the Copa del Rey, but there they immediately lost at home to Real Sociedad in the semifinals. The same 0-1 score was repeated away. Now, they are left trying to save their season in La Liga, where things haven’t gone well since September. There was a recent winning streak. But after beating Elche, they settled for a draw with Rayo Vallecano.<\/p>\n
The Catalan giants last season only failed in the Champions League, winning all the “domestic” tournaments. This season seemed poised for even greater successes. So far, they have confidently won the Super Cup. In the Champions League, the knockout stage is only now about to begin. The mood is not the best: by the end of winter, they had lost the lead in La Liga. But then it was Real Madrid\u2019s turn to stumble, and Barcelona responded with confident wins over Levante and Villarreal. In the semifinal, after a 0-4 loss in Madrid, they scored three times against Atletico at home by the middle of the second half\u2014but that was it.<\/p>\n
The Basques currently have a clearly negative ratio: 1.15 goals scored per game on average and 1.38 conceded. The reigning national champion now scores 2.73 per match, so even conceding one per game on average is acceptable.<\/p>\n
Athletic – Barcelona: Key Stats and Trends
\nAthletic have won four of their last seven matches
\n54% of Athletic Bilbao\u2019s matches end with goals from both teams and the average total goals per match is 2.54
\nBarcelona have won three in a row
\n62% of Barcelona\u2019s matches end with goals from both teams and the average total goals per match is 3.73
\nAthletic – Barcelona: Probable Starting Lineups
\nAthletic (probable lineup): Unai Simon – Berchiche, Laporte, Paredes, Gorosabel – Jaureguizar, Ruiz de Galarreta, I. Williams, Sancet, Serrano – Guruzeta<\/p>\n
Barcelona (probable lineup): Garcia – Martin, Eric Garcia, Cubarsi, Kounde – Olmo, de Jong, Fermin Lopez – Raphinha, Ferran Torres, Yamal<\/p>\n
Previous Matches: Athletic – Barcelona
\nThe 5-0 win in the Super Cup was the fifth consecutive “El Clasico” victory for de Jong and company, with four of those matches featuring clean sheets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"