Barça will host Athletic, who haven't won an away game against Barça in 24 years

It has been 909 days since Barça's last match at the Camp Nou. After more than two years of waiting and several missed deadlines, the Blaugrana temple reopens its doors this Saturday to welcome 45,000 spectators for the La Liga match against Athletic Club. 

Ernesto Valverde's team will visit Barcelona with the intention of breaking barriers and securing a victory that has eluded them for 24 years.

This Saturday, the remodeled Camp Nou will be dressed to the nines to celebrate the stadium's official reopening with the thirteenth matchday of La Liga. Barça will face an Athletic side that hasn't managed to win at the Camp Nou since the 2001/02 season. It was on November 24, 2001, that Athletic Bilbao defeated Barcelona 2-1 at the Camp Nou, with goals from Isma Urzaiz (10') and Santi Ezquerro (83').

Since that match, Valverde's men have visited Barcelona 28 times: 23 league games, two Super Cup finals, and three Copa del Rey matches. Adding to this losing streak is the historical significance of their away matches in Barcelona. Since 1927, the Lions have played 115 official matches on Blaugrana soil, spread across Les Corts, the old Camp Nou, and the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, with a devastating record for Athletic Club: 81 defeats, 14 draws, and only 20 victories.

“When you can’t win at a stadium for a while, it’s for a reason,” Ernesto Valverde declared in the pre-match press conference. However, at San Mamés, their home ground, the story is different. Athletic and Barça have met 32 times since 2001 at the Bilbao stadium, and although the record favors the Catalan club, who have won 15 times, the home side has managed 8 victories and 9 draws.

The match will have a maximum capacity of 45,401 spectators, as established by the 1B license that the Barcelona City Council granted to the club this Monday. Thus, with the Camp Nou stadium filled to capacity and an atmosphere charged with anticipation and nostalgia, Athletic Club will have another opportunity to break that historic streak that now stretches for almost a quarter of a century.