Athletic Bilbao will be traveling to a raucous Vicente Calderon as they take on the defending La Liga champions, Atletico Madrid.
DIego Simeone's men have had a good run of form after after they bowed out of the Champions League in the quarter-final stage of the competition. Since their exit, however, Atletico have gained a full six points by defeating Elche 3-0 at the Calderon and earned the full three points in an away win at Villarreal in which Fernando Torres scored the only goal in the 74th minute of play.The Atleti manager would be very happy with these results in recent weeks. It shows that his squad is a resiliant bunch and that a loss did, albeit in a big competittion, did not alter their focus in league play.
This season, Atletico Madrid has been more flashy in their football. The addition of Atoinne Greizmann gives Simeone a different dimension. In the last campaign, they played a lot of route one football and it worked especially with a forward like Diego Costa. However, now that Costa is honing his trade in London, Atletico can play with a bit more flair which the supporters will be particularly pleased with. Another good thing about Greizmann is that he can bang in a goal or two as he currently leads the team with a whopping 22 goals in league play.
Athletic Club has not had the best of seasons to date, but they still could potentially make the Europa League should other results go their way. The busy Champions League schedule forced Bilbao to rotate their squad often and as a result, they dropped points that should have been won. After this match with Atletico Madrid, they have a fairly easy games left on their schedule with a trip to Deportivo La Coruna, away to Elche, and ending the season at home with a match versus Villarreal, who are also battling to stay in European contention.
Unfortunately for Ernesto Valverde, his squad has been bit by the injury bug. Aritz Aduriz has a shoulder injury which is a big blow because the 34 year old has been in the form of his life leading the team in scoring with 15 goals. Stalwart defender, Mikel Balenziaga also picked up a knock in training as it looks like Athletic will be forced to play with a make-shift back line and this could be their undoing. Yes, Aymeric Laporte will be one of the central defenders but who is going to be his partner? It will be interesting to see if that will be the reason why this match is either won or loss.
The match itself is going to be very hotly contested. It is extremely hard to go into the Calderon and get a victory, let alone a point. Valverde's men will have to be composed at the back throughout the full ninety minutes. Since this will be played in front of the Atleti faithful expect a home victory by no more than two goals.