Barcelona VS Ath Bilbao Live (Football) Football Score 22Aug 2021

The Athletic–Barcelona clásico refers to football matches between Athletic Bilbao and FC Barcelona, two clubs competing in Spanish football competitions.

Barcelona VS Ath Bilbao Live (Football) Football Score 21Aug 2021

The two clubs are among the oldest in the country, and have participated in every season of the national championship, La Liga. Owing to this, as well as contesting nine finals of the Copa del Rey[ (in which they are the two most successful clubs), it is the third most-played football fixture in Spain, after the meetings of each with the third constant member of the league, Real Madrid. Due to this, it has been referred to as a Clásico, the modern Spanish term for a significant and traditional fixture (a classic) which is not a derbi based on geographical proximity.

The relationship between Athletic and Barcelona ahas historically been fairly healthy aside from certain periods when competitiveness became hostility, such as in the early 1980s  By the turn of the 21st century, the rivalry had largely become a historical concept due to the disparity in the fortunes of the clubs and the lack of a local element,  but their frequent meetings in matches of importance, including four Copa del Rey finals  and three Supercopa fixtures in a dozen seasons, restored some relevancy to the fixture.

Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona are both owned by their socios (members) who elect a president to oversee club affairs. They also place great importance in developing local players through their cantera (youth systems) and were among the last major clubs to adopt a commercial sponsor logo on their jerseys (Athletic doing so in 2008 and Barcelona three years later).

As the most successful clubs in their native regions (the Basque Country for Athletic and Catalonia for Barcelona) and seen by many of their supporters as the sporting embodiment of the native population, the clubs have important and similar roles in the national football culture, with Athletic’s adherence to a unique ‘Basque only’ player policy and Barcelona’s efforts to become the world’s best while maintaining and promoting a distinct Catalan identity exemplifying two diverse approaches to being a sporting symbol of their homelands.

Barcelona in particular have a far more intense rivalry with Real Madrid – perceived to represent the dominant Castile region and the Spanish royal family – sometimes known as the Gran Clásico, it has become simply El Clásico; they also contest a local derby in Greater Barcelona against Espanyol which too has political aspects. Athletic Bilbao’s attitude towards Real Madrid is also more frosty than their relationship with Barcelona due to the differences in the political and cultural identity of the clubs, and they have a significant local rivalry in the Basque autonomous region with Real Sociedad.