Athletic Bilbao take on the visitors Espanyol in the round 17 match of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Monday, December 22nd at Estadio San Mamés (Bilbao).
Athletic are a local football legend, but with a very distinctive and rather archaic approach to squad building. It is therefore not surprising that truly major successes have been rare in recent years. Most of them came with Valverde in charge, so Ernesto’s return was greeted with enthusiasm, which was justified already in the second year of his new spell, when the cup was won in 2024. That triumph sent the club into the Europa League, where they reached the semi-finals, while also finishing fourth in La Liga. The new season also started well, but in the autumn there were far too many slip-ups. This was especially true in the Champions League, where their return turned out to be difficult and was marked by numerous defeats. In the latest round against PSG they earned a goalless draw, which, however, did little to improve their overall position. In La Liga, though, even after a 0–3 loss to Real, they regrouped and beat another principled rival, Atletico. After that, they lost to Celta. Still, the cup campaign is ongoing. Recently, Athletic have looked more organized in domestic matches than earlier in the season. Even with mixed results, their overall form suggests gradual stabilization.
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Espanyol are showing their best football in a long time. The Parakeets have always been fairly ambitious. However, in recent years, instead of fighting for European places, they kept ending up in the Segunda. That was where Manolo Gonzalez took charge of them. At first, he focused on meeting the basic objectives, not without difficulty: he returned the team to La Liga via the play-offs and then kept them there, finishing just a couple of points above the best of the bottom three, Leganes. In the current season, they immediately started with a comeback win over Atletico, and then managed to win about half of their matches. It is no surprise that they are now staying among the contenders for as high as fifth place, which could even turn into a Champions League spot. Moreover, in the last round they defeated a direct rival, Getafe. At the same time, they exited the cup in late autumn, losing to modest Atletico Baleares, which looks like a deliberate decision to reduce the extra burden. Espanyol have been collecting points consistently in recent weeks. Their results indicate a team confident in its current direction.
After three consecutive wins by the Basques in 2023–2024, the match in Barcelona in February ended in a draw. More faith is placed in the Basques. However, at the moment the visitors from Catalonia seem to be in better shape, so the pick is that they will avoid defeat.
Prediction for the match: Espanyol not to lose (X2).
