The domestic treble winners look for a successful finish to a wonderful season when Barcelona travel to the Basque Country for a meeting with Athletic Bilbao at the Cathedral of San Mamés in the 380th and final La Liga game of the 2024-25 campaign.
There are zero stakes involved in this match for both teams as they are locked into their spots on the table, but Barça vs Athletic at San Mamés is always fun regardless of the stakes and the Catalans will be looking to end an unforgettable season with one last victory.
Here’s how we think Hansi Flick will line up his troops for Sunday’s battle.
Defense
FC Barcelona v RCD Mallorca - La Liga EA Sports Photo by Gongora/NurPhoto via Getty Images
According to the latest reporting from Catalan media, Flick could make big rotations to his squad to rest the big name stars who still have commitments with their national teams before the end of the season, but we still don’t have official word from the coach regarding his plans.
With that in mind, we are going safe with our predictions and assume Flick will pick a strong side for this one to give the team the best chance to win. Marc-André ter Stegen will likely start in goal to keep building up his rhythm and fitness ahead of playing for Germany in a couple of weeks, and we think Iñigo Martínez will start at center-back at his former home stadium alongside Pau Cubarsí and with Eric García and Alejandro Balde at full-back.
Midfield
FC Barcelona v Villarreal - LaLiga EA Sports Photo by Maria Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates/Getty Images
Fermín López has undoubtedly won the starting job as Barça’s number 10 ahead of Dani Olmo at the end of the season, and we think he’ll start again this Sunday. Frenkie de Jong and Pedri are big candidates to get a rest given their upcoming commitments with the Netherlands and Spain, but for now we think they’ll be starting in this one.
Attack
FC Barcelona v Villarreal CF - La Liga EA Sports Photo by Pablo Rodriguez/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images
Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski all have big games for Spain, Brazil and Poland in a couple of weeks and could also be rested, but for now we’ll predict they’ll be starting Barça’s season finale. Flick will probably contradict this entire XI as soon as he gives his press conference on Saturday, but we don’t know the future!
Possible XI: Ter Stegen; Eric, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Raphinha; Lewandowski (4-2-3-1)
How do you think Barcelona should line up against Athletic? Let us know your thoughts, predictions and teams in the comments below!