Hansi Flick believes the return to Camp Nou will give Barcelona a big boost as they prepare for their homecoming at the iconic stadium against Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona have played the majority of their home games since the start of 2023/24 at the Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, with the club spending €1.5 billion to modernize Camp Nou.
The Blaugrana’s return to the pitch has been postponed several times, with them even playing matches at the Estadi Johan Cruyff – home of their B team – earlier this season.
Camp Nou has a limited capacity of 45,000 places for Saturday’s match against Athletic, who are seventh in LaLiga with 17 points from twelve games.
The Blaugrana are second, having cut Real Madrid’s lead at the summit to three points ahead of the international break.
“We are all happy to return to Camp Nou, a real football stadium,” Flick told reporters. “It is a good opportunity to measure where we stand.
“We prefer to play at Camp Nou. When we did the training and went up the stairs, I had an incredible feeling.
“We like it a lot. The fans are close and can give us a push during the match, although they also did that in Montjuic. I am happy that I have a good relationship with the fans.”
We dreamed about the return. Now it’s here.
We are back home. Back at Spotify Camp Nou pic.twitter.com/sMTeuPbUvX— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 17, 2025
Athletics boss Ernesto Valverde, who coached Barca between 2017 and 2020 and won two league titles and one Copa del Rey, believes Flick’s side have not dropped their level since lifting the crown last season.
“I see them just like last year, at a great level. It’s true that over time teams know how to play against them, that’s normal,” Valverde said.
“But they have a lot of quality to prevent the opponent from advancing. They always push you into your own half. They want to play the game in your area and that makes them dangerous because of the quality they have up front.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Barcelona-Robert Lewandowski
Lewandowski scored 76 goals in LaLiga in 112 games.
Since making his debut in the competition in 2022-2023, only Erling Haaland (99 in the Premier League) has scored more goals in a single league match among players from Europe’s top five divisions.
Athletic Bilbao – Nico Williams
Williams, who could make his 100th LaLiga start (currently on 99), scored Athletic’s winning goal in their last LaLiga match against Real Oviedo.
However, he has faced Real Betis without being involved in a goal just eight more times in LaLiga than Barcelona (seven).
MATCH PREDICTION – BARCELONA WIN
Barcelona have not lost any of their last eleven games against Athletic in LaLiga (W9 D2) and have kept a clean sheet in six of the last seven.
At home, the Blaugrana have not lost any of their last 23 LaLiga games against Athletic (W20 D3). They won the last six, their longest unbeaten run at home against them in the top flight – their last home defeat against them in LaLiga was in November 2001 (2-1).
Athletic have not won any of their last four away games in LaLiga (D1 L3) and failed to score in three of them, although they have not gone five or more games without an away win in the competition since January 2023 (D3 L4).
This season the Blaugrana have scored 32 goals in La Liga. Only Bayern Munich, with 35 goals in the Bundesliga, have scored more than the Blaugrana in Europe’s top five leagues this season.
Meanwhile, Flick’s side have been hit more times than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues (twelve – three more than Napoli in Serie A).
They are clear favorites to win their homecoming at Camp Nou, having won each of their five home games in LaLiga this season. Not since the 2019-2020 season have they started their season with six straight wins, when they recorded their first seven wins.
A great party to mark the return to Spotify Camp Nou
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 19, 2025
OPTA CHANCE OF WINNING
Barcelona – 64.3%
Athletic Bilbao – 17%
Draw – 18.7%
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