Athletic Bilbao hosts Real Sociedad in round 25 of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Sunday, February 20th at Estadio San Mames (Bilbao)
Athletic Bilbao unpleasantly surprised its fans a week ago. The Lions lost to Mallorca with a score of 2-3. A streak of four matches without losses came to an end (three victories and one draw). However, Athletic is still quite high in the standings, namely, in 8th place. Now it has 34 points, and the gap from the top six is only for points. Marcelino’s men earned 17 points both at home and away. But they played 11 games on their pitch, and 13 on foreign ones. All their indicators at Estadio San Mames look like this: five victories, two draws, and four defeats with a goal difference of 15-13. Strangely, but the Lions kept a clean sheet on only two home matches.
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On February 17, Real Sociedad played against RB Leipzig in the first leg of the Europa League 1/16 finals. The game was quite intense and difficult and ended in a 2-2 draw. Consequently, Alguacil’s men may have certain difficulties in the upcoming game versus Athletic Bilbao. However, Real Sociedad has suffered a single defeat in the Spanish championship in 2022. The team played five games and gained two victories and three draws. It is noteworthy that all five matches ended with Under 2.5 goals scored. The White-Blues are currently in 6th place in the standings with 38 points. The lag behind the Champions League zone is only one point. Real Sociedad players are not impressive on foreign pitches, but they do not fail either: 16 points in 11 away games (four victories, four draws, and three defeats).
The upcoming derby will be the 174th in the history of head-to-head confrontations. Athletic Bilbao has 69 wins, and Real Sociedad won 58 times. In the first half of the current championship, these Basque teams could not determine the winner (1-1). It seems to me that Athletic Bilbao has a much higher chance of earning three points. It's not just that the team will play in front of their native stands. Marcelino’s men had a whole week to prepare for this derby, and Imanol Alguacil’s side had a difficult match against RB Leipzig on Thursday. The visitors will have to show temper if they don’t want to lose. And I think we will not see the winner in the upcoming game.
Prediction for the match: Draw
