Athletic Bilbao take on the visitors Real Sociedad in the round 27 match of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Saturday, March 7th at Metropolitano Stadium (Madrid).
Atletico want to position themselves as a force equal to Real Madrid and Barcelona. However, in reality their current ceiling seems to be third place, and even that was taken away in the season before last by the sensational Girona. Their recent league form has also been uneven, with several dropped points preventing them from closing the gap to the very top of the table. At the same time, they remain difficult to beat and often manage to collect wins even when their overall performance is not particularly convincing. Now there is also a more experienced competitor in the form of Villarreal, who have been actively taking advantage of the too frequent slip-ups by the capital club. Still, Espanyol and Oviedo were beaten. In the Champions League, they had to begin their campaign already in February, and on the field of Club Brugge the Spaniards, leading by two goals, let the victory slip away. At home against the Belgians the story was different. In the cup, however, Antoine Griezmann and company shocked Barcelona, defeating them 4–0 in the first semifinal match. At Camp Nou they were already three goals down by the 72nd minute, but eventually still managed to hold on to an acceptable result.
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Real Sociedad successfully changed their head coach. The Txuri-urdin achieved a lot under Imanol Alguacil. However, a second poor season in a row, finishing in 11th place, eventually led to a change on the bench. Even before the coaching switch, the team had shown signs of instability in the league, alternating impressive victories with unexpected dropped points. At the same time, the squad remained competitive in several tournaments, which suggested that a managerial change could quickly improve results. In the summer they decided to trust the little-known but homegrown Sergio Fernandez, yet he never came close to becoming a second Imanol, and the first half of the season could rather be described as a failure. Fortunately for the club, in winter the San Sebastián side decided to invite Domenico Tedesco Matarazzo, and under him the players transformed, starting 2026 brilliantly after the break. In the cup, after reaching the semifinals, they won the first match in Bilbao. At home against their neighbors they repeated the same 1–0 scoreline. In La Liga there were also many successful games — they even defeated Barcelona. On the other hand, there were setbacks as well, and against Oviedo, the main outsider, they had to settle for a 3–3 draw. However, in the latest round they beat Mallorca.
The Madrid club has now gone eight official matches without defeat — winning five times and drawing three, including the meeting in January. Although the visitors are in decent form, the hosts still have enough class and motivation. The pick is a home win for Diego Simeone’s side.
Prediction for the match: Atletico Madrid to win.
