Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao, Spanish Supercup 2nd Leg: Projected Lineups

Monday's second leg of the Spanish Supercup is surrounded by questions: can Barcelona pull off a miracle and win an unlikely title? Can Athletic Bilbao hold on to a huge advantage and take home the trophy as underdogs turned favorites?

The tactical choices may be a huge factor in the outcome of the game, so here's a look at how the teams might line up at Camp Nou:

Barcelona (4-3-3):

Stegen

Alves - Piqué - Mascherano - Mathieu

Rakitic - Busquets - Iniesta

Messi - Suárez - Pedro

Forget exhaustion, injuries, rotations. If Barça really want to win the sextuple, it needs to go all out and pull off a miraculous result. If there is a bright side, however, is that Luis Enrique rotated the squad for the first game. Piqué, Mathieu and Busquets didn't play at all in Bilbao, while Rakitic and Iniesta played just over 30 minutes. That means at least five key Blaugranes are well rested for Monday's clash, and after losing the midfield battle last Friday, Enrique needs his top three midfielders to do their best job. They should be fit enough to do it.

At left-back, without Jordi Alba, and with Adriano Correia having a tough time recovering from the first leg, almost guarantees Mathieu's return. He had a horrible game against Sevilla in that position, but he has proved last season that he doesn't lose confidence and could deliver a great performance. Still without Neymar, Messi and Suárez need a heroic effort to score at least four goals, and they need support from Pedro, possibly the only Blaugrana who had a good performance at San Mamés.

Athletic Club (4-2-3-1):

Iraizoz

De Marcos - Etxeita - Laporte - Balenziaga

San José - Beñat

Susaeta - Eraso - Sabin

Aduriz

There is simply no reason for coach Ernesto Valverde to change his lineup. It's perfect to defend and attack with consistency, and they will need to be very alert on defense, because there is an onslaught coming. One possible change is putting Gurpegi in place of Eraso to form a more defensive midfield to deal with Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta and Messi in that area, but the most likely starting lineup is the same that destroyed Barça just a few hours ago.

Source: Renato Goncalves http://ift.tt/1gLXCt8