Barcelona put historic home dominance on the line against Athletic Club

Barcelona will look to extend their remarkable record against Athletic Club when they play their second La Liga match of the season at Camp Nou on Thursday.

The fixture is a rearranged game from the opening round of the league campaign. Barcelona began their domestic season in emphatic fashion on Sunday, beating Elche 5-0 away from home.

Opta’s pre-match data highlights the scale of Barcelona’s advantage in this fixture. They have avoided defeat in their past 13 La Liga meetings with Athletic Club, winning 11 and drawing two. Barcelona have also kept clean sheets in eight of their previous nine matches against the Basque side.

The Catalan club’s longest unbeaten run against Athletic Club in the competition was a sequence of 14 matches between 10 wins and four draws, achieved in 2013.

Their home record is even more imposing. Barcelona have not lost any of their last 24 home league games against Athletic Club, recording 21 victories and three draws. They have won each of the past seven, making it their longest unbeaten home run against the club in the history of the Spanish top flight. Athletic Club’s last league victory at Camp Nou came in November 2001, when they won 2-1.

Thursday has also traditionally been a successful day for Barcelona. They have won their last seven La Liga matches played on that day, the longest such winning sequence in their history in the competition. Athletic Club, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their past four top-flight games on Thursdays, with three wins and one draw, keeping clean sheets in each of those victories.

Barcelona have won their last 19 home league matches, a run which began after their 3-2 defeat by Villarreal in May 2025. It is the club’s longest sequence of consecutive home victories under the same manager since they won 21 in a row between 1973 and 1974 under Rinus Michels.

Athletic Club arrive in very different form. They have failed to win any of their last five La Liga matches, drawing one and losing four. They have collected points in only one of their last six away league games, winning once and losing five, while conceding at least twice in each of those six matches.

Barcelona have recorded more clean sheets than any other team in La Liga during 2026 among the clubs involved in the competition across the past two seasons, with 10. Athletic Club have the fewest, with one, level with Villarreal.

Barcelona had 54.4% possession in their latest league match against Elche. That was their second-lowest figure in a La Liga game across the past three seasons, behind the 49% they also recorded against Elche in November 2025.

Nico Williams has faced Barcelona more often than any other La Liga side without contributing a goal, having played against them eight times, a figure matched by Real Betis. Barcelona are also the only opponent against whom Williams has never won in the competition, drawing once and losing seven times, alongside Granada, against whom he has one draw and three defeats in four matches.

Barcelona are the only club from Europe’s five major leagues to have more than one player score at least 15 goals in all competitions during 2026. Raphinha has 16 and Lamine Yamal has 15.

Athletic Club manager Edin Terzic could make unwanted history after his side’s 3-1 defeat by Sevilla in their opening match. Another loss would make him the first manager to lose his first two La Liga games since Ernesto Valverde in the 2003-04 season.

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