FC Barcelona vs. Athletic Bilbao: Why Barça are already in the final

by Tyler Doty

image FC Barcelona vs. Athletic Bilbao: Why Barça are already in the final
FC Barcelona is aiming for its first trophy of 2026. The team will kick off the semifinals of the Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday evening with a match against Athletic Bilbao. This is a game well within the Blaugrana's reach, and they should have little trouble advancing to the tournament final.

Barça On a Winning Streak

The first trophy of 2026 is up for grabs in Spain. This week, the Spanish Super Cup is being held in Saudi Arabia. The first semi-final takes place on Wednesday at 2pm EST., with FC Barcelona facing Athletic Bilbao. Logic should prevail and Barça could qualify for Sunday's final, as indicated by our FC Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao prediction.

It must be said that the Blaugrana seem to be on a roll in recent weeks. They have decided to leave nothing to chance in any competition. They are on an eight-game winning streak in all competitions. In addition to qualifying for the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, Hansi Flick's team is comfortably sitting at the top of La Liga. After the first 19 games, they are four points ahead of their closest rival, Real Madrid.

FC Barcelona are the defending champions of the Spanish Super Cup.

At the beginning of December, Lamine Yamal and his teammates also managed to get back on track in the Champions League, after two unsuccessful games, by beating Eintracht Frankfurt (2-1). They can therefore look forward to the Spanish Super Cup, of which they are the defending champions, with confidence. This is especially true given their current defensive solidity, with four consecutive clean sheets in all competitions.

Barça therefore has everything it needs to make a successful start to the Spanish Super Cup. They will certainly not want to expend too much energy before facing the winner of Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid in the final next Sunday.

Athletic Bilbao is far from playing a leading role this season.

Just before this match, FC Barcelona was fortunate to see Pedri and Dani Olmo return to the pitch last weekend. The latter even managed to break the deadlock in the derby against Espanyol Barcelona. This is excellent news as they face the team that seems to be the most beatable of the four competing in this Spanish Super Cup.

This is certainly not the first half of the season Athletic Bilbao had hoped for. They were expected to fight for a top-four finish in La Liga and qualify for next season's Champions League. In the end, the Basque club is only eighth in the table and already nearly 14 points behind Atlético Madrid (fourth).

He failed to win in his previous three games and has very bad memories of his last match against Barça on November 22. He suffered a heavy defeat at Camp Nou against the Blaugrana, with Ferran Torres scoring twice (4-0). It's hard to imagine them putting in a much better performance a little over a month later, having been 3 goals down after only 48 minutes of play.

To make matters worse, Ernesto Valverde's men are not shining in Europe's premier competition either. They have won only once in six Champions League games and are not in the top 24 in the league phase. All of this leads us to believe that FC Barcelona will have no trouble qualifying for the Spanish Super Cup final!