Athletic Bilbao-Sevilla is a match of the 31st day of La Liga and is played Thursday at 10 pm: lineups, predictions, TV and streaming.
Betis and Villarreal, the two teams that are struggling to keep their hopes of qualifying for the next Champions League alive, have had an extra worry for a few weeks now and it’s called Athletic Bilbao.
The Basques seem to have turbocharged just after the great disappointment of elimination from the King’s Cup, in which they surrendered in the semifinals to surprising Osasuna. Since the return match with the Navarri, which sealed the end of their dream of playing in the final, Ernesto Valverde’s men have not stopped, racking up three consecutive victories. The red-and-whites also took advantage of a schedule that did not present them with impossible challenges. Most notable, however, in addition to the away successes with Espanyol and Almeria, was the derby win over Real Sociedad, La Liga’s fourth force, beaten 2-0 at the San Mames. Bilbao in the league has not lost in almost two months, and the last defeat was to Barcelona, which is set to win the tournament. Now everything makes sense again and if before Europe seemed an unreachable goal now it is no longer: Athletic is seventh, just a glue behind Villarreal – engaged a few hours earlier with Espanyol – and -3 behind Betis.
Two healthy teams
In the match that closes the midweek round, however, the Basque team will face another healthy team, Sevilla.
Rafa Mir
The Andalusians have been reborn with the arrival of Jose Luis Mendilibar on the bench, and thanks to successes with Valencia and Villarreal, they have secured salvation, moving +8 from third-last place. With no more goals in the league, Suso and his teammates will focus all their efforts on the Europa League, a competition in which they are still key players: they will play for access to the final with Allegri’s Juventus in May. Mendilibar is expected to rotate someone at the San Mames, but must do without Nianzou, Marcao and Jordan. But there are heavy absences in Bilbao as well, forced to forgo the disqualified Vesga and Zarraga.
The Prediction
Athletic Bilbao has a little more motivation than a Sevilla side that has little left to say in the league after reaching safety. The Basques will therefore avoid defeat in a game of less than three goals total: at home the red and whites have only conceded nine goals in 15 games and are always very solid.
The probable lineups of Athletic Bilbao-Sevilla
- ATHLETIC BILBAO (4-3-3): Simón; De Marcos, Yeray, Martínez, Berchiche; García, Herrera, Sancet; Iñaki, Nico, Guruzeta.
- SEVILLE (4-3-3): Bono; Jesus Navas, Badé, Gudelj, Acuña; Gueye, Fernando, Suso; Ocampos, Lamela, En-Nesyri.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-0
