Barcelona vs Athletic Club Prediction: Both sides to score in Barca Home Opener

Robert Lewondowski was the hero for Barcelona as the Polish striker scored twice to lead his side to a come-from-behind win against Valencia.

This week, Barca are at home and our Spanish Football expert Mark Sochon thinks it will be an entertaining encounter. You can read his match preview and all his Barcelona vs Athletic Club Predictions for the Saturday evening (18:00) encounter, live on Premier Sports 1...

Barcelona play their first home league game of the Hansi Flick era on Saturday, with Athletic Club the visitors to Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. 

The spotlight won't just be on Flick though. Spain winger Nico Williams, a major transfer target for Barça, is set to line up for the opposition as he makes his first start in La Liga 2024/25. He's fresh from a brilliant summer which saw the 22-year-old light up Euro 2024, operating on the opposite flank to the equally impressive Lamine Yamal, who will also feature in this game. 

The duo struck up a good relationship on and off the pitch, and it's no secret that Barcelona would like that to continue in the Catalan capital. It's a deal that looks unlikely to happen this summer for two main reasons though, the first being Nico's apparent desire to remain in the Basque Country for one more year and play European football with his boyhood club. 

Secondly, Barça have been having difficulties with the registration of Dani Olmo, their one major summer purchase to date. They're hoping to have those ironed out in time for this match, with the departures of İlkay Gündoğan and Mikayil Faye expected to smooth that process along. However, it's extremely doubtful that any other major business will be done, unless they are able to generate serious funds by selling other players. 

The absence of a senior holding midfielder and the lack of depth in the full-back roles means Flick will likely need to rely on young talent from La Masia, the club's famous academy, this season.  

That was certainly the case on matchday one with the German selecting three 17-year-olds in his first competitive eleven against Valencia. Marc Casadó and Marc Bernal both made their full debuts in La Liga in midfield and for much of the opening half, Barça found it tough going at Mestalla, falling behind to Hugo Duro's 44th minute strike. 

The response was a swift one though, with Robert Lewandowski scoring just before and just after the break to seal a 2-1 victory. In what had the potential to be a tricky opening fixture given the extent of their midfield issues, Flick's side saw the game out relatively comfortably in the end.  

With the Madrid clubs both dropping points, it was as positive a start as the new Barça boss could have hoped for and a good response to a desperate 3-0 home defeat to Monaco in their final pre-season match. This will be another genuine test though, against an Athletic side that finished 5th last season and has ambitions of breaking into the top four this term. 

It wasn't an impressive opening from the Basques though. They were frustrated by a Getafe side that started without a natural striker at San Mamés, in the very first match of La Liga 2024/25. Athletic struggled to create many clear openings in a match that ended 1-1 with Oihan Sancet's goal, cancelled out by a Christantus Uche strike for the visitors. 

Ernesto Valverde's team also lost their final two pre-season games and did fade slightly at the back end of last season after ending a 40-year major trophy drought by winning the Copa del Rey in April. 

There's no reason to be overly concerned though. They should have a stronger eleven out in this match given none of their Euro 2024 participants started the season opener. That should see brothers Nico and Iñaki Williams link up once more and the siblings have happy memories from a cup meeting against Barça back in January when they both scored in a 4-2 win. 

Team News: 

Barcelona are still missing Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araújo, Gavi and Ansu Fati to injury, while Andreas Christensen is rated doubtful. 

They face a race against the clock to get Dani Olmo registered, but the 26-year-old could be included on the bench with Pedri potentially coming into the side for his first start since his Euros campaign was ended by injury against Germany in Spain's quarter-final. Ferran Torres may be the player to drop out, in what could be Flick's only change from the trip to Valencia. 

As for Athletic, they are expected to include two members of the successful Spanish Euro 2024 squad with Nico Williams and Dani Vivian coming into the side, after neither started the opening game. The injured Aitor Paredes and winger Alex Berenguer should drop out. 

Unai Simón is set miss around half of the season due to injury though and with back-up  

Julen Agirrezabala also doubtful, it's possible that 20-year-old Alex Padilla could start again in goal. 

Barcelona vs Athletic Club Odds

Barcelona start as the clear favourites at 8/13, with the draw priced at 3/1 while you can back an Athletic victory at 9/2. 

While they've run into trouble in the reverse fixture at times, Barça have won their last five home games against Athletic. They're priced at 13/8 to win this match with a -1.00 handicap while you can back Barcelona and over 2.5 goals at 11/8. 

You can back over 3.5 goals at 7/4 if you see this being a really open affair. The hosts are priced at 11/8 to score in both halves and 10/11 to win the second half, which may appeal to punters given their tendency to improve after the break last season. 

After his brace in Valencia, Lewandowski is the 100/30 favourite to score first, while he's on offer at 21/20 to score anytime. You can also get odds of 2/1 for Raphinha to score anytime, with the Brazilian expected to start once more. 

From an Athletic perspective, you can back striker Gorka Guruzeta to score anytime at 11/4 while Iñaki Williams is 100/30 to get on the scoresheet. 

*You can check out all of the Football Odds we offer over at betfred.com

Bet 1 - Both teams to score @ 8/11 

A relatively weak Valencia attack did cause Barcelona some genuine problems in the first half last weekend and that will offer encouragement to what is a much stronger Athletic forward line. The visitors are expected to pick the Williams brothers, as well as Guruzeta and Sancet in their starting eleven, which means they'll have all of their main goal threats on the pitch.  

Up against such an inexperienced home midfield, Athletic should be able to get more of a foothold in this game than on recent visits to this city. I certainly expect both teams to create chances and I'm going with both teams to score at 8/11. 

Bet 2 - Nico Williams 1+ shots on target & Lamine Yamal 1+ shots on target @ 7/4 

After an extra week of training and with some competitive minutes under their belts, we should see more of both Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal this weekend. 

They are two of the most exciting young talents in Europe and after the massive confidence boost of their breakthrough summers on the international stage, we should only see both go from strength to strength this season in La Liga. 

Neither is afraid to try things and Nico doesn't seem like the type to be overawed by the transfer speculation and challenge of playing in front of the fans that may eventually be his own. Both should see plenty of the ball in this game and I'm using the #PickYourPunt tool to back Nico Williams 1+ shots on target and Lamine Yamal 1+ shots on target at 7/4. 

Mark Sochon primarily covers Spanish Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out Mark's La Liga Betting Tips along with those from the rest of the Betfred Insights Spanish Football writers on our La Liga home page...