Athletic Bilbao take on the visitors Osasuna in the round 16 match of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Monday, January 9th at Estadio San Mamés (Bilbao).
Athletic’s prevuous mentor, Marcelino, won the Super Cup after appearing at San Mames, and in general ensured a good progress of the cup as a whole. But it was not possible to return to the European arena with him, neither through La Liga, nor through the Copa del Rey, where they lost both finals. So it's not surprising that Ernesto Valverde was brought back in the summer. With the “Ant” it turned out to give out a starting segment even better than the optimists predicted. Having won half of 14 matches, Athletic met a pre-Christmas break in the Champions League quartet. True, on December 29 there was only a draw with Betis, which is why they fell back to 5th place. On the other hand, the 0-0 dissatisfaction following the trip to Sevilla is also a good sign of a high level…
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Osasuna are geographically close to Athletics. Until recently they had a completely different status - “elevator”. But now they have Yagoba Arrasate in the coaching post. Having accepted the team after another fall into the Segunda, he not only brought it back right away, but also made his wards a strong middle-class player, alternating the finish in 10th and 11th place three times in a row. Now, such an impression, there are signs of progress - at least, the team managed to carry out the starting segment unexpectedly successfully, in fact, on a par with the "Basques" - 7 wins and 23 points in 14 fights. Yes, after a pause there was a defeat, 0-2. But there was also an away match, to another ambitious neighbor, Real Sociedad. Because of this, and the density in the table, they rolled back to 9th place. However, if successful at San Mames, it will be possible to seriously win back positions.
This is not a confrontation with the status of a full-fledged derby, but it is still quite principled. And last year, Athletic was able to confidently win both matches, both in January and May, with a difference of 2 goals, 3-1 and 2-0. For experts, the favorite will be Athletic, which plays at home. But both clubs are having a strong season this season, so it's best to stay neutral when betting on "total over 2.0 goals".
Prediction for the match: Over 2.0 scored goals.
