Match Preview : Barça VS Athletic Club

Tonight is the start of the expanded Spanish Supercup competition. This time is the turn of the semi final stage before the final that is down to being played this upcoming Sunday. Live from scorching Saudi Arabia, its Athletic Club versus Barça. The first of 2 semi final games being played in the 4 team knockout competition. So let’s jump straight into it.

Quick Look at our opponent:

When it comes to our rival for the evening, Athletic Club is probably the toughest matchup you can get at this early stage in the competition. They’ve had a really impressive start to the season. Fighting in and around the top 4 in La Liga and making pretty easy work of their time in European competition. After a breakthrough summer with Spain,Nico Williams has stepped it up again so far this season, alongside his brother Iñaki upfront. Former Barca coach Ernesto Valverde has done brilliant work with the basque side since he made his return to the club only a couple seasons ago back. And as a result has turned them into a very difficult side to beat in Spain. We always seem to face them in domestic cup competitions and games against them are never easy, tonight will be no different.

Predicted lineup:

When it comes to the lineup for tonight’s game, there are definitely a few questions that need to be answered. Against Barbastro, we were able to rest and rotate a lot of the squad. And given how thin the squad is overall, that was important.

Pablo Torre for example, has a brilliant game and definitely made a claim to start more, especially with all the registration problems we are facing right now with Olmo and Victor. Having a player like Pablo is key. Lamine Yamal, reportedly, feels in perfect condition so will he play from the start tonight or will he be subbed on later on.

I feel like we’ll go very strong tonight, with Cubarsi, Casado, Raphinha making a return to the starting lineup. It would also be brilliant to see Gavi and Ansu too. And for me, it’s an exciting prospect to see Araujo and Cubarsi as the centre back partnership against Athletic Club. Araujo is going to be absolutely huge for this team and the way we play with the high line. I’d also imagine that Peña will start in goal, but it would be good to see Scezney again after he made his debut against Barbastro.