Spanish Super Cup Preview: Barcelona Gunning for Fifth Consecutive Trophy

Athletic Bilbao will hope to take advantage of a few exhausted legs and minds in the Barcelona camp, who have just 72 hours to recuperate from the exertions of 11 August’s dramatic 5-4 extra-time victory over Sevilla in the European Super Cup in Tbilisi.

Manchester United are drawing even closer to sealing the deal for Barcelona winger Pedro, with the Red Devils reportedly keen to stump up the player’s release clause.

Luis Enrique: Nobody knows at the moment if [Pedro] will start. But he couldn’t confirm whether the 27-year-old would feature in the lineup on Friday, or how long he would remain at the club beyond the match. I won’t make my decision based on the market.

“It is a complicated situation for many reasons”. I’ll continue to use the players I deem best to face each particular game.

“When you know that you could leave, it is a complicated situation”.

“Tactically we know each other well, because we have played a lot matches and finals in recent years and this is no different”.

Spanish Super Cup is a traditionally contested between La Liga champions and the Copa del Rey victors.

“It is crucial that we have our best team available”. Whatever the case, Barcelona don’t have any new injury concerns to contend with – meaning that fatigue will be our “only” barrier.

Captain Andres Iniesta has recovered from a knock against Sevilla to be able to take his place in the squad for Friday, but there has been one casualty from Tbilisi. One of the young Swiss in FC Barcelona is Hans (Joan) Gamper who can lead the team with flawless control.

Inaki Williams, who scored Athletic’s goal in a 3-1 defeat when the two sides met in the Copa del Rey final in May, Ander Iturraspe, Mikel Rico and Iker Muniain are all sidelined and striker Aritz Aduriz believes that is more of a blow to his side than Barcelona missing Neymar.

“We’ll fight hard to win this trophy”, he told reporters.

Not because they are lacking their own options, but because at 21 the defender is already a star and has enormous potential. It was a 90-minute match and we had our chances but they were very good.