Barcelona begin the defence of their La Liga crown by making the trip to San Mames Stadium to take on Athletic Bilbao.

Despite losing to Chelsea in July, the Catalan giants enjoyed a strong pre-season, registering four successive victories ahead of their opening league game.

However, the meeting with Bilbao is one of a number of testing matches during the first month of the season, which places more importance on starting the campaign with maximum points.

Here, Sports Mole rounds up their latest injury and suspension news ahead of the fixture on Friday night.

Lionel Messi

© Reuters

Status: Major doubt
Type of injury: Calf
Possible return date: August 16 (vs. Bilbao)

Ernesto Valverde said over the weekend that Messi is unlikely to have recovered from a calf problem - picked up while on international duty with Argentina over the summer - in time for this match. However, the Argentine may feature among the replacements, providing that he has made suitable progress in his recovery.

Neto

© Reuters

Status: Out
Type of injury: Wrist
Possible return date: Unknown

Neto - a summer signing from Valencia - has broken a bone in his wrist during a training session. While Barcelona acknowledged that an operation had taken place on Tuesday, they did not suggest a potential return date.

Barcelona have no players who are serving a suspension for this game.

Written by
Darren Plant