Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao: Barca return to Camp Nou battle

Returning to this historic stadium, Barcelona hopes to continue its strong performance against Athletic Bilbao at home.

As the November international competition comes to an end, La Liga is about to resume its war. There are many games in the 13th round with their own highlights, among which the contest between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao attracts the most attention. Barcelona will face Athletic Bilbao this Saturday night, marking the team's first return to the refurbished Camp Nou since May 2023.

Barcelona has won 9 wins in 12 games so far this season and currently ranks second in the league standings. On the other hand, Athletic Bilbao has only won 1 victory in the past 4 league rounds. The team is temporarily ranked seventh, one step away from the European Theater.

Barcelona’s home dominance against Athletic Bilbao

Barcelona led by Flick successfully regrouped after losing 1-2 to Real Madrid in the El Clasico and won two consecutive league victories. The Catalan team first defeated Elche 3-1 and then continued their winning streak against Celta Vigo. Lewandowski scored his first hat-trick of the season, Yamal also scored, and Barcelona eventually won 4-2. However, on the other side, Real Madrid drew with Rayo Vallecano in a goalless draw. Barcelona also took this opportunity to successfully narrow the points gap with the top spot, and is now only 3 points behind the league leader.

Real Madrid will challenge the unbeaten Elche at home in the early hours of next Monday, while Barcelona intends to seize the opportunity to take three points against Athletic Bilbao this Saturday night to put pressure on Real Madrid coached by Alonso.

Barcelona maintains a very impressive historical record when facing Athletic Bilbao. The Red and Blues have won 20 of the last 21 home games against the Basque Lions in the league. The last time Athletic Bilbao took away victory from Catalonia was back in the 2001/02 season.

Not only that, Barcelona has maintained a winning record at home this season, winning all five games, scoring 16 goals while conceding only 3 goals. Athletic Bilbao has failed to score in 3 of its last 4 games against Barcelona. Barcelona has defeated Athletic Bilbao three times in a row in various competitions, including a 3-0 victory over the opponent at the San Mames Stadium at the end of the 2024/25 season, which was a successful conclusion to last season.

Athletic Bilbao hopes to reverse the season's decline

What's more worth mentioning is that Athletic Bilbao coach Valverde has coached Barcelona for two and a half seasons, but he only won 1 game and lost 12 games against his old club in the past 13 league games. Last season, Valverde led the team to an amazing performance, finishing fourth in the league and qualifying for the Champions League. At the beginning of the 2025/26 season, the team achieved three consecutive victories, but failed to continue this momentum and lost 5 of the subsequent 6 games in all competitions. However, before the international break, Athletic Bilbao narrowly defeated Real Oviedo 1-0, and Nico Williams contributed a wonderful winning goal.

Since August, Athletic Bilbao has not been able to achieve two consecutive league wins. Facing Barcelona this time, Valverde's team hopes to regain its form and break the curse of being difficult to defeat Barcelona on the road. Can Barcelona continue their winning streak against Athletic Bilbao in their first game back at Camp Nou? And can Athletic Bilbao take away three points from Catalonia again after more than 20 years? The direction of this duel is worth looking forward to.