Athletic face an important week, the eight most important days of the season so far. Valverde’s team has two decisive matches in the match for Europe, the goal set at the beginning of the season by all club levels, and the ticket to a new Cup final is also at stake. Big word when it comes to fetish competition in Bilbao.
The challenge begins tomorrow with the visit of Betis. The red-and-whites can give a coup to the green-and-whites in the continental battle. Victory in Benito Villamarín will leave the team Manuel Pellegrini 13 point difference with only 36 left to play in the last twelve rounds to wrap up the championship on the last weekend of May.
Andalusians are not having their best moments. They will host Athletic after a collapse that meant elimination from the Conference League at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb after suffering 0-1 at home and Thursday’s 1-1 draw in the Croatian capital. And there were internal waves after the statements of his coach, who complained about sports planning. “I said in the month of August, if you believe you can play in Europe with a center back, it’s very difficult. The same now with six or seven injured, no center backs, these are advantages that cannot be given in Europe. One tries to minimize them but eventually the truth will come. For various reasons, because of injuries, because of registration, because of sales, because of whatever, we don’t have a suitable squad to fight in Europe,” he said.
The Chilean is also without his most decisive footballer to receive the lions, the injured. Iscowho already scored 0-2 in the first round match played in San Mamés, and suffered three more defeats due to the accumulation of warnings, Juan Miranda, Socrates and Marc Roca.
Guruzeta He suggested on Thursday to put the “focus” on tomorrow’s event so as not to lose sight of the League, but who is mainly thinking about the next one, the second leg of the Cup semi-final against Atlético. The colchoneros visit San Mamés next Thursday with a 1-0 disadvantage suffered at the Metropolitano on February 7, with a goal from Berenguer penalty for a flagrant foul inside the penalty area reinildo about Beñat Prados.
After recovering MorataSimeone’s doubt is Antoine Griezmann, who suffered a sprained ankle on Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Inter at the San Siro. There is no doubt that this will be a very important loss. The Frenchman was their most decisive footballer and also scored a large number of goals against the lions. Atlético play their Liga match today at the Almería ground, so it comes to Bilbao with one more day off than Athletic.
The third commitment has the value of Champions. The people of Bilbao host Barça on Sunday, March 3, third in the Liga with five points to spare. While waiting to see what the culés do today against Getafe in Montjuïc and the Villamarín result, the victory against the culés will boost the options to be in the top four to not rely on the Spanish League with fifth place to play in maximum European competition, something that has become very complicated.
The matches against the Andalusians and Catalans will mark the European future through the League and the visit of Atlético opens the possibility to fight for the Cup championship on April 6 at La Cartuja in Seville. It was the sixth time to achieve a major title in the last 16 years.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
