Luis Enrique seeks 100th victory as Barca coach
Barcelona will attempt to give Luis Enrique his 100th victory in his 125th game in charge of the team when they play at Athletic Bilbao.
|||Madrid - Barcelona will attempt to give Luis Enrique his 100th victory in his 125th game in charge of the team when they play at Athletic Bilbao in la Liga on Sunday.
A former Barca player, the 46-year-old led them to a La Liga, King's Cup and Champions League treble in his first year in charge and the domestic double last season.
The Catalans started the campaign with a 5-0 aggregate triumph over Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup and a 6-2 victory over Real Betis in La Liga.
“We are the team to beat,” Barcelona defender Gerard Pique told Marca. “We've got a very competitive squad and we're going to try and win titles as we have done in recent years.”
Barcelona have won five and lost one of their last 10 league games at Bilbao.
Lionel Messi, set to captain the team for the second week in a row with Andres Iniesta sidelined due to a knee injury, will make his 350th league appearance.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen has recovered from a knee problem and is expected to start in goal. New Dutch keeper Jasper Cillessen could be on the bench in Bilbao.
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to feature for the first time since sustaining a knee injury in Portugal's Euro 2016 final victory over France when his team host Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Real, who have not won the league title since the 2011-12 campaign, were 3-0 winners at Real Sociedad in their opening league game.
Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 at home with Deportivo Alaves in their first match and will be bolstered by the return of French forward Antoine Griezmann, who missed the opening match through suspension, at promoted Leganes on Saturday.
Griezmann scored 22 league goals to help Atletico finish third in La Liga last season.
Reuters