FC Barcelona launch their La Liga title defence at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, and manager Luis Enrique has not shied away to say that the Catalan giants are favorites for the title.
FC Barcelona were demolished 4-0 by Athletic Bilbao earlier last week in the Spanish Super Cup at St. Mames. They eventually lost the tie 5-1 with Atheltic managing to get a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou.
The defending champions will be hoping for a much better outcome this time around as they open their La Liga campaign.
Enrique accepts FC Barcelona are favorites
Having won the league last season on their way to a treble, manager Luis Enrique reckons the Catalan side will be favorite to win the league.
As quoted saying by FC Barcelona official website ahead of the Bilbao tie, Enrique said:
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a It will be a long season. Ita s a competition of consistency and we are favourites after having won last season. We are kicking off in an lovely, historic stadium. Starting well always helps.a
He was also quoted saying by Football-Espnana: a Last season, we weren’t the favourites because Atletico had won the League. This season, however, we’re the favourites. We’ll see how it goes.”
“There are four teams in with a big chance of winning the League title.”
‘FC Barcelona better prepared for Bilbao clash’
Having lost 4-0 at San Mames just three days after winning the UEFA Super Cup against Seville, Enrique suggested that injuries and tiredness made it difficult for the Spanish champions, but, the circumstances are better now than they were during the game.
a Now, we’re fresh and they’ve just played in Europe. I care about every last detail when we play Athletic.
a It was a standard pre-season because we competed well, but we’ll only draw conclusions at the end of the season. Right now, we’re where we wanted to be.
a We’ve seen the return of great players with great professionalism, all of whom are very excited to win more trophies.
Also Read: FC Barcelona Team News: Alba Declared Fit; Barca B Duo In Squad To Face Bilbao