Athletic Bilbao already won the first leg of this cup, 4-0 at home. This won’t be an easy test for Barcelona, but they should be up for the challenge.
Barcelona fans were stunned by the outcome on Thursday. Their 4-0 defeat was the first time Barcelona had allowed four goals in consecutive games dating back to 2001. Obviously not having Neymar (who has the mumps) on the field hurts, but Barcelona’s defense was terrible in Game 1.
Barcelona is the most successful team in Spanish Super Cup history with 11 championships. Real Madrid has the second most ever with nine. The last seven winners have either been Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid or Barcelona. Barcelona’s last title came in 2013.
It was just a few days ago that Barcelona defeated Sevilla 5-4 to win the UEFA Super Cup thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi. Pedro eventually scored the game-winning goal in extra time to give Barcelona the victory. Maybe Barcelona is just tired. It feels like every week they are defending a title or playing for some sort of championship. Shortly another La Liga season will begin for Barcelona as well.
Marc-André ter Stegen is expected to start in net once again, but don’t be surprised if Claudio Bravo gets the start this time.
This will be an extremely difficult task for Barcelona. Not only do they have to win the game, but they must defeat Athletic Bilbao by at least five goals to win this Super Cup. The Super Cup legs are a aggregate tournament combining goals from Games 1 and 2. Even if Barcelona were to beat Athletic Bilbao 4-0, it still wouldn’t be enough, because of the “away goals rule.”
If Barcelona were to somehow win 4-0, that means we would head into a shootout to ultimately determine a winner.
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