La Liga: Sevilla’s Trip to the Basque is Tasty

Athletic Bilbao vs Sevilla

The Primera Division kicks off this weekend, and there’s a clash to savour up in the north of the country where La Liga: Athletic Bilbao vs Sevilla is the entertainment on offer. 

Last season this would have been a home banker between Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic Club, who finished fourth after another strong campaign, and Sevilla who squeaked through to narrowly avoid relegation, finishing in 17^th.  The 53,000 San Mames Stadium will be bouncing on Sunday evening for the return of top flight football and, with the slates wiped clean, we can expect a good contest.      

Sevilla’s new boss Matias Almeyda is tasked with bringing the good days back to a club which very recently was a serial Europa League winner, and one which has arguably looked better over the past few weeks.  

 

Talking Points

Brutal pre-season for Bilbao

After a fast finish to last season much of the talk around Bilbao has been centred on the future of winger Nico Williams, who has been the subject of rampant transfer speculation. The 23-year-old La Roja star almost went to Barcelona, with the Catalans offering 58m Euros; but the deal fell through and the upshot was a new contract for Williams, over ten years and with a new release clause of 90m Euros.  

That outcome will be something of a relief to Athletic Club fans, but they will be rather less encouraged by the form of their team in pre-season. Bilbao faced some of Europe’s top clubs and, while they managed a draw with local rivals Real Sociedad to round up their preparations they did suffer some poor results, notably three-goal defeats to both Liverpool and Arsenal.

Valverde has some experienced defenders to call on with 28-year-old Spain stopper Unai Simon the last line of defence and centre-back Aitor Paredes marshalling the back four and, if they can do their job then Williams, alongside his big brother Inaki can exploit the Sevilla defence. I expect the hosts to be on the attack for much of the game and 6ft 4in target man Maroan Sannadi will be pushing for a start with striker Oihan Sancet out injured.          

 

Sevilla’s attacking intent

After a really shaky campaign in 2024-25 Almeyda has brought some much-needed confidence back to Sevilla and the Athletic Bilbao vs Sevilla highlights may look rather different than they would have six or so months ago. While I expect the hosts to be on the front foot the visitors will be ready to pounce on a Bilbao defence which has looked a little shaky in pre-season, albeit against Liverpool and Arsenal, the Premier League’s top two teams last term. Almeyda will set up his team to frustrate the Bilbao flair players but he will balance that with a potent attack, which showed its potential in a 4-2 win away to FC Schalke in July. Unlike Athletic Club, Sevilla have showed some consistency in pre-season, playing out draws with the French pair of Marseille and Toulouse. 

With a strong midfield led by skipper Nemanja Gudelj, the 33-year-old Serb will dictate the pace of play, Lucien Agoume is an energetic box-to-box player, while Belgian striker Dodi Lukebakio has plenty of pace. Almeyda has strengthened the attacking unit with the signing of Alfon Gonzalez, a former Spain youth player and a winger with an eye for goal.      

Alongside Valencia and Real Sociedad, who meet this weekend on one of our SBOTOP 

picks, Sevilla is one of the great clubs of times gone by which is aiming to climb back among the elite. If they can start by avoiding defeat at San Mames in Sunday Almeyda will be a happy man.  

 

History

The head-to-head clashes between these two proud clubs could hardly be closer over the most recent 38 games with Athletic Bilbao winning 17 matches to Sevilla’s 16, while there have been five draws, one coming last season in a 1-1 result at San Mames. Sevilla have scored more goals over this period, with 46 to 43 in these matches.  

In terms of pre-season form, while Sevilla have been solid and unbeaten, Bilbao have lost four and drawn one, conceding 20 goals along the way.   

 

Betting Tip

The pre-match Athletic Bilbao vs Sevilla betting odds strongly predict a home win with the hosts at 1.54 to win, with the draw at 3.75 and Sevilla way out at 6.52 to pick up all three points. 

With Valverde’s side keen to put their pre-season woes behind them and a passionate crowd behind them, I think they will go out on the attack against a team with is seeing the green shoots of recovery, and has a decent front line to boot.  

   

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