Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona prediction 07.03.2026 | La Liga

Athletic Bilbao failed to repeat last season's fourth-place finish in La Liga. In the current campaign, they are only a mid-table team, and they can hardly hope for more than the Conference League next autumn. Athletic Bilbao have struggled for consistency lately, winning only two of the last five matches. In the previous game, they lost 1-0 on the road in the Copa Del Rey against Real Sociedad. The Basque team needed a victory after a defeat in the first leg, but Ernesto Valverde's team was nowhere near the desired level.

After a knockout from the cup, Athletic Bilbao's head coach, Ernesto Valverde, was expectedly disappointed. He said, "It's a shame not to reach the final. When you have this opportunity, and you don't succeed, you feel frustrated, and that frustration is proportional to how excited you were beforehand. We lacked more chances to score, and we didn't create enough opportunities. We have to admit that Real played better than us in the tie. We weren't able to hurt them as much as we wanted to because we didn't play well enough in attack."

Athletic Bilbao have some problems with missing players. They will be without Nico Williams, Maroan Sannadi, Benat Prados Diaz, Unai Eguiluz, and Yeray Alvarez, who are unavailable for Saturday night.

Barcelona are on course to defend their La Liga title from last season. With 12 league rounds left, Hansi Flick's team is four points above the next team on the standings, their biggest rival, Real Madrid. Barcelona won the last three matches in a row. In the most recent outing, they won 3-0 at home in the Copa del Rey against Atletico Madrid. However, that win was not enough to keep them in the competition, as Barca had suffered a heavy 4–0 defeat in the first leg, bringing their cup run to an end.

Barcelona were knocked out of the Copa del Rey, but the second leg in Barcelona made the head coach, Hansi Flick, proud. He said, "We have given everything, and that's what I want to see. We gave more than 100%, and that's fantastic. Today everybody played with heart, and it was a great performance from us, but it was just not to be, and we have to accept that." 

Alejandro Balde, Andreas Christensen, Frenkie de Jong, and Jules Kounde are injured and will not travel to Bilbao, while Gavi is questionable.