The Spanish Premera League will commence on Friday with the Champions Barcelona travelling to San Mames to take on Athletic Bilbao in the season's opening weekend fixtures. La Liga fans couldn't ask for a better curtain-raiser than the champion kicking off the season.
Barcelona spends almost the entirety of the preseason and summer transfer window trying to resign their former forward and PSG ace Neymar Jnr, the Catalan giant has been locked on the transaction table with the Parisian club PSG, who wants to recoup the £200M they paid for the Brazilian 2 seasons ago. If Barcelona can pull off Neymar resigning, it will add to an already formidable frontline that also includes new mega signings Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie De Jong( who has been likening to be a blend of Sergio Busquet and ex-Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez).
Athletic Bilbao, on the other hand, may have not brought in a household signing, however, their best piece of business was the tying down of the much sought after player Inaki Williams. The Spaniard has been tied down to a long-tern 9 years contract, thereby ending interest from European powerhouses such as Manchester United and others.
Top on Barcelona's wishlist is no doubt the return to European glory, the Catalan club has endured a turbulent and embarrassing past 4 seasons in which they've witnessed arch-rival Real Madrid won 3 of the last 4 UEFA Champions League(2015/16-17/18), while Barca also collapsed to a humiliating semifinal defeat to eventual champion Liverpool last season. Barcelona has however been on the front foot in domestic campaigns, winning 4 out of the last 5 La Liga & Copa Del Rey, including a successful defence of the La Liga last season.
Head-To-Head: Athletic Bilbao-Barcelona;
Although the Rojiblancos as Bilbao are referred to as has proven to be a torn in Barcelona's flesh in the past, like both return legs of the Liga fixtures last season where they played out 1-1 & 0-0 scoreline respectively, the Blaugrana(Barcelona) still poses a better record of 3 Liga wins in 5(and 2 draws), and are favoured to win this clash.
Athletic Bilbao Attacking Threats:
Inaki Williams; arguably Bilbao's best player, the Spaniard last season posed a decent threat of 38-13-4-75(Games-Goals-Assists-Shots). He will be raring to better those stats this season. Others include midfielder Raul Garcia(33-9-3-81), forward Iker Muniain(34-7-4-25)...
Barcelona Attacking Threats:
Leo Messi; a lot have been said concerning Barcelona's driving force, Leo Messi, the club tends to struggle without the mercurial Argentine. Messi's contribution to Barca over the years is phenomenal, he's not just scoring the goals, he made goals for his teammates too, Messi top both the goals and assists chat in La Liga last season(34-36-12-141), his 6th La Liga Golden booth. His partner in crime wasn't left out, Luiz Suarez's last season record stood at 33-21-6-93. Other attacking threat will definitely come from newly acquired French forward Antoine Griezmann(37-15-9-86). By the close of the transfer window on September 2, Barcelona's front 4 could be as shown above; Messi, Neymar, Griezmann & Suarez, how all of them will fit into the starting 11 remains to be seen.
Prediction:
With so much firepower within the Barcelona ranks, one can not be faulted for opting for a Barcelona win, Athletic Bilbao 0-3 Barcelona.
So, Folks, sit back and enjoy the Spanish Premera League. Thank you all.
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