Athletic Bilbao hosts Real Sociedad in round 16 of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Thursday, December 31st at Estadio San Mamés (Bilbao)
Gaizka Garitano's wards are the middle peasants of the Spanish elite and can hardly claim significant progress in the standings. It's all about the club's limited capabilities, traditions, and transfer policy. The maximum for Athletic is the Europa League zone and the game in this European competition. But in order to claim the Champions League, the club must wait for the emergence of new talents from the football academy. Young and promising performers appear in Athletic on a regular basis. However, this does not apply to the attacking line. After the departure of Aduritz, the coaching staff uses the nominal defensive midfielder Raul Garcia at the helm. Williams, Villallibre or Muniain are also trying to prove themselves in the attack.
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The start of the championship for the team from San Sebastian was very solid. Now Real Sociedad continues to be in the group of leaders of the tournament standings (third place). However, the team has lost its ground in the last rounds. The club lost three times in a row in the championship, thereby deteriorating its prospects. Alguacil admits a slight decline in the game of his players, but Sociedad is unlikely to be in such a state for a too long period of the season. The personnel potential of the Basques has been gradually growing for several years in a row, and now only cosmetic improvements to the lineup are taking place. Only experienced David Silva has joined the team this season. Such performers as Illaramendi, Zubeldia, Remiro, Oyarzabal, Isak, Merino, and Porto play key roles in the lineup.
The fans will probably see a competitive and pragmatic duel. Athletic cannot impose a fight on top clubs over a long distance. Despite this, the team from Bilbao is an uncompromising opponent that everyone has to reckon with at San Mames. Real Sociedad is experiencing a small game crisis, due to which the team's prospects have deteriorated somewhat. We think the upcoming match won’t please the fans with an abundance of goals scored.
Prediction for the match: Under 2.5 goals scored
