Spain 22-23 August

Some bookies going as big as 6/1 on Bilbao this weekend, that looks a huge price to me. Barcelona have been a little out of sorts in pre-season, losing friendlies against Man Utd and Fiorentina, and throwing away a 4-1 lead against Sevilla in the European Super Cup before winning it 5-4 in extra time.

More relevant here, though, in the last 8 days or so they've played Bilbao home and away in the Spanish Super Cup (their equivalent of the Charity Shield, but over 2 legs). Bilbao won the home leg 4-0, and drew 1-1 in the Camp Nou.

Neymar's only just back in training after illness (mumps), he missed both legs of the Spanish Super Cup, it's not yet sure whether he'll be available this weekend, but he's missed a large chunk of pre-season training so unlikely to be fully fit.

Also worth noting that until January, their new signings aren't eligible to play for them due to the ban on them signing any new players. As a result, with players like Xavi and Pedro leaving this summer, the replacements are having to come from within the squad, or from the youth team. Their starting 11 is still plenty strong enough, but their bench is going to be a little on the weak side for the next few months. They're also going to be without Pique in defence after his sending off in the 2nd leg of the Spanish Super Cup.

Will be asking a lot of Bilbao to beat Barça again, but if a week ago they were beating them 4-0, and Barça are without one of their best defenders, there's no chance they're a 6/1 shot to do it again this weekend.