Athletic Bilbao – Villarreal

Villarreal are capable of spoiling Bilbao's festivities

Athletic are already having a historic season, but there is an opportunity to make it unique. The Basques will play Villarreal at home in the 31st round and can return to the top four again. The opponent has no serious tournament motivation, but is in good shape. Athletic won the King's Cup a week ago in an emotional final against Mallorca. Ernesto Valverde's men haven't won such a trophy in 40 years. Clearly, for the Basques, such an achievement is epochal. The generation of the Williams brothers added the title to the collection of a unique club. The next home match will be dedicated to winning the trophy. There should also be no problems with the mood - Athletic remain in control of the fight for fourth position in La Liga. Under certain circumstances, even the fifth line can allow them to play in the main European Cup. The Basques will definitely have no problems with motivation. Athletic enters the crucial phase of the season without injuries. Only centre midfielder Ruiz will not be able to play in the match against Villarreal - he has a suspension. Villarreal after the resignation of Kike Setien for a long time got used to the demands of Marcelino. At some point over the team seriously threatened to fight for survival, but the experienced coach still corrected the course. "Submarine" floated to the middle of the table and shows a very bright game in recent rounds. If you take the distance of ten matches: only two defeats - away from Atletico and Marseille in the Europa League. In the championship, the team has four wins in five games. If we take the advanced statistics from February, Villarreal have the fifth attack in La Liga in terms of goalscoring chances and the sixth defence. That is, at the moment Marcelino's wards are playing at the level of a European Cup contender and better than Atletico, who were distracted by the cup campaign. The key to Villarreal's current success is a pair of strikers, Serlot and Moreno. Both have double-digit goal totals. At the same time, the Norwegian could well compete for the title of top scorer. The striker has scored fourteen goals to date. Gradually managed to find mutual understanding in defence. There is still no reliable link in the centre of defence. This is due to a large rotation due to injuries. For example, veteran Albiol is often out. Villarreal rarely play without conceding a goal, but there are no failures from the start of the season. The guests do not look like an easy opponent for Bilbao. The hosts may be emotionally exhausted after the King's Cup. The historic task has been accomplished. The fight for fourth place pales in comparison to the trophy. Villarreal, on the other hand, are relaxed, have one of the best attacking link-ups in La Liga and are not weighed down by tournament pressure.