So I got curious about who usually wins when Athletic Club and FC Barcelona play each other. Always heard fans arguing about this, but never saw actual numbers. Grabbed my laptop and started digging.
Where I looked first
Searched some sports stats sites – the usual places where they keep old match records. Took forever scrolling through pages of football scores going back decades. My coffee went cold twice while counting wins and losses like some bookkeeper.
- Wrote down every single match since 2000 in a notebook
- Made tally marks for Barcelona wins, Athletic wins, and draws
- Got distracted wondering why La Liga schedules these games at such awful hours
What went wrong
Realized halfway through that Cup matches weren’t included in the league stats I’d pulled. Had to restart the whole damn thing with another search. Almost threw my pen across the room when I found out some websites contradicted each other on exact results from the 90s.
Final numbers that surprised me
Turns out Barcelona wins way more often – no shock there. But Athletic didn’t get steamrolled as much as I expected at their home stadium. Interesting how the victories clustered during certain seasons when each club had strong managers.
Why I even bothered checking
Reminds me of the time I visited Bilbao back in 2016 and got dragged to this bar during match night. Some drunk guy kept insisting Athletic was Barça’s “real rival” while waving squid ink-stained fingers at me. Lost twenty euros betting against him that night – should’ve done this research first.
Anyway, here’s the boring conclusion everyone probably knew already: Barcelona wins more. But looking closer at how and when those wins happened? That’s the interesting part you don’t hear people talk about. Should’ve just asked my uncle who memorizes football stats like they’re bible verses – would’ve saved me three hours.
