La Liga Betting – Athletic Bilbao vs. Barcelona

Athletic Bilbao (+800) vs. Barcelona (-300) (+425)

After eight consecutive wins in all competitions, Barcelona will face a stiff test today when they meet Athletic Bilbao in San Mames (3:00 p.m. Eastern).

The Catalans come into the game as heavy favorites, sitting at -300 in the moneyline. On the other side, a win by the home side will pay +800 and the draw +425.

Barcelona is currently second in La Liga with 50 points (16-2-3) and a +46 goal difference. They are a full four points back of Real Madrid, however, and have little room for error if they hope to catch the Merengues by season’s end.

Despite the uphill battle that lies ahead, striker Pedro Rodriguez said the team is taking the season one game at a time.

“We have the pressure every weekend,” he said. “The most important thing is to take the next game on, and not lose points. … We must think about ourselves, and if Madrid lose, the better, but first we have to worry about ourselves.”

Athletic – who finished last season in the top-four and earned a spot in this year’s Champions League – are having a rough go this season. They managed to beat Levante (0-2) last time out, but that was their first win in eight games. The eight-game winless stretch was the team’s worst run in La Liga since March 2009.

In the standings, they are well back in eleventh place with 23 points (6-5-10) and a -8 differential.

However, Barcelona have struggled in the País Vasco recently, failing to notch a win there since September 2010, drawing three and losing five since that time.

(Photo credit: Shai Pal [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] via Wikimedia Commons)