Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 Spanish Primera
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It has been a difficult start to the campaign for both of these sides, two giants of Spanish football, as Valencia travel north to the Basque Country to face Athletic Club at San Mames with both sides under a bit of pressure.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Wednesday 28th August, 2024 - UK – 6:00pm / US ET – 1:00pm / US PT – 10:00am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
ATHLETIC BILBAO PREVIEW: REDISCOVERING WHAT MADE THEM SPECIAL
Ernesto Valverde has done a very good job in charge of Athletic Club as they won their first trophy in 40 years last year when they won the Copa del Rey as well as achieving a fifth place finish in La Liga. The Basque club, though, may have suffered a bit more from the retirements of Raul Garcia and Iker Muniain than they would have expected.
They began the season with an underwhelming 1-1 draw against Getafe at San Mames with Oihan Sancet opening the scoring before Christantus Uche equalised in the second-half. They backed that up with a 2-1 defeat at Barcelona at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys with Robert Lewandowski scoring a late winning goal.
VALENCIA PREVIEW: EXTENDED DROP OFF
Valencia managed to escape relegation on the final day of the 2022/23 season with Ruben Baraja being rewarded by being given the job on a permanent basis and they then achieved a top-half finish last season but performances tailed off before the end of the season, ending any hopes they had of securing European qualification.
The Valencians began this season with their own 2-1 loss to Barcelona after Hugo Duro had given them the lead before half-time but a Lewandowski brace punished them. They now come into this one on the back of taking the lead once again, this time against Celta Vigo at Balaidos, but eventually suffering a 3-1 loss.
ATHLETIC BILBAO TEAM NEWS: RETURNING PLAYERS
Athletic Club have been dealing with some key injury absentees at the start of this season but one of those, club captain Oscar de Marcos, is now back and available for Ernesto Valverde.
Goalkeeper Unai Simon is also inching his way back to a return at San Mames but they remain without a couple of other key players in Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta and Alvaro Djalo.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Alex Padilla; Oscar de Marcos, Dani Vivian, Yeray Alvarez, Yuri Berchiche; Benat Prados, Mikel Vesga; Inaki Williams, Oihan Sancet, Nico Williams; Gorka Guruzeta
UNAVAILABLE: Aitor Paredes (Injured), Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta (Injured), Nico Serrano (Injured), Alvaro Djalo (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Unai Simon (Injured)
VALENCIA TEAM NEWS: DEFENSIVE ISSUES
For Valencia, Ruben Baraja is still having to adjust and adapt to key defensive issues with Mouctar Diakhaby’s horrible knee injury against Real Madrid in March keeping him out alongside captain Jose Luis Gaya.
Former Brentford winger Sergi Canos has been instrumental to the 4-4-2 system but he remains unavailable for now alongside goalkeeper Jaume Domenech but Giorgi Mamardashvili is staying for the season on loan after joining Liverpool.
PREDICTED XI (4-4-2): Mamardashvili; Correia, Cristhian Mosquera, Gasiorowski, Jesus Vazquez; Rafa Mir, Pepelu, Javi Guerra, Diego Lopez; Andre Almeida, Hugo Duro
UNAVAILABLE: Jaume Domenech (Injured), Diakhaby (Injured), Jose Luis Gaya (Injured), Sergi Canos (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
ATHLETIC BILBAO VS VALENCIA PREDICTION
This is a really intriguing one because Athletic Club have started a season in which they would have wanted to push for a top four finish and potential UEFA Champions League qualification very slowly. The Basque club do welcome a Valencia side, though, that will actually be concerned that their results so far this season are not just a slow start but a continuation of the poor form that they showed last spring. Given that, Athletic, with home advantage, should get their opening victory of the season.
ATHLETIC BILBAO VS VALENCIA TIP: ATHLETIC CLUB TO WIN
