Revenge? Valverde takes his Athletic Bilbao to Barcelona seeking upset

There are several great games coming up in Matchday 10 of the 2023/24 LALIGA EA SPORTS season, including FC Barcelona vs Athletic Club at 21:00 CEST on Sunday. This is one of the most historic fixtures in Spanish football and will take place in a different setting from usual, at the Estadi Olímpic in Montjuïc.

This rivalry should once again produce thrills and one man who knows this fixture well is Ernesto Valverde. As a coach, he has been involved in 26 matches between Athletic Club and FC Barcelona, managing the Basque side in 21 of them and the Catalan side on five occasions.

Both Athletic Club and Barça made Valverde the man he is today

During his playing career, Valverde also played for both these clubs. He played as a forward for Barça between 1988 and 1990, before representing Athletic Club from 1990 to 1996. After retiring, he took his first steps in coaching in Bilbao, working in the Lezama academy and then becoming Athletic Club's first-team coach in 2003.

Johan Cruyff was always good at spotting a talented tactician and he detected early on that Valverde, one of his former charges at FC Barcelona, had the makings of a great coach. "He is one of the most outstanding and most promising coaches in Spain," the Dutchman said when Valverde was taking his first steps in management with Athletic Club.

Cruyff was right and Valverde achieved so much success at Athletic Club, and at other clubs such as RCD Espanyol or Olympiacos, that he earned the FC Barcelona job after Luis Enrique left.

Valverde was coach when RCD Espanyol played at Montjuïc

Valverde was the boss of RCD Espanyol in the 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons, managing Los Pericos at a time when they played at the Estadi Olímpic in Montjuïc. This is the