2015 Spanish Super Cup preview: Athletic Bilbao - Barcelona - Plenty at stake in Cup first leg

La Liga and Copa Del Rey winners Barcelona look to draw first blood on the road to get their fifth trophy of 2015 when they take on Athletic Bilbao, the runners-up of last year's del Rey trophy - in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup at the San Mames on Friday evening as they look to win their second consecutive Supercopa Del España.

Barça's form:

Barcelona are coming off the back of their dramatic 5-4 victory in the UEFA Super Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia against back-to-back UEFA Europa League winners Sevilla. For the first time, a free-kick brace was given by Lionel Messi and goals from Luis Suárez, Rafinha and Pedro in the last few minutes of the match in extra time gave Barça their first title of the season and their fourth of 2015, on the quest to look for two more in the Spanish Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup to achieve the sextuple for just the second time in club history.

Before the match, the club's technical secretary Robert Fernandez stated that Pedro has "told me he wants to go", whilst the Manchester United target himself said after the match he had a "lot of anger" at the fact he was not starting the game, calling Fernandez's comment "very unfortunate" in the process. The Spanish Super Cup is a tournament Messi typically dominates, as he has scored ten goals in the competition - which is more than any other player in history.

Bilbao's form:

The Copa Del Rey runners-up are coming off a pre-season campaign with three draws, a win and a loss as they look to shock the treble-winning side at home in front of many adoring supporters at the San Mames to avenge their 3-1 loss in the Copa Del Rey final, in which Messi scored a beautiful goal.

The Lions have also just finished the third qualifying round of the 2015-2016 UEFA Europa League with an aggregate 2-0 win over Azerbaijan Premier League club Inter Baku PIK and have consequently advanced to the play-off round.

Ernesto Valverde will now have to rely on players such as French centre-back Aymeric Laporte, who has been a huge influence, Ander Iturraspe in midfield, and Aritz Aduriz, a brilliant target man.

Referee

The referee for this match will be José Luis González González of Castilla y León. The 40-year-old has officiated 117 matches in La Liga.

Team news:

Nothing to report for both clubs as it remains the same for Barcelona with Neymar out with the mumps and Jordi Alba out with an injury. Bilbao are not at full strength with Iker Muniain, Mikel Rico and Inaki Williams among those set to be absent from the match.

Quotes:

Manager Luis Enrique has said that the upcoming season has started in "very attractive fashion", because they knew that two Super Cups were coming up - helping their preparation as well as being "competitive from the start."

On the opposition, he said they are a team who "use the support of their fans to cause problems for their opponents", which will make for an uncomfortable match to deal with.