Athletic Club in search of successive victories as ATL. Madrid visits.

2024-09-15

Athletic Club, riding the momentum of their first victory, host Atletico Madrid in a thrilling La Liga showdown this Saturday, aiming for back-to-back wins to ignite their season.

Athletic Club

After a sluggish start to the season, Athletic Club finally secured their first win with a gritty 1-0 victory over Valencia in midweek, leaving them in 10th place with four points (1W, 1D, 1L). Beñat Prados [45’] scored the game’s only goal to steer the Lions to a narrow win.

With the transfer window now closed, Athletic can focus fully on their La Liga campaign without the distractions of ongoing transfer speculation. Saturday’s clash against Atlético is at the top of the priority list, with Athletic looking to go into the international break with successive victories.

Victory here would not only see the home side achieve the feat but also leave the Lions with back-to-back La Liga home victories over Atlético Madrid following a 2-0 win in December 2023. Ernesto Valverde will deploy a 4-2-3-1 formation with Gorka Guruzeta in attack.

Athletic will be missing two of their defenders, Yuri Berchiche and Aitor Paredes, due to shoulder and foot injuries, respectively. Íñigo Ruiz de Galarreta is also out of this fixture with a thigh injury, while goalkeeper Unai Simón remains a doubt due to a wrist injury.

Atlético Madrid

Atlético Madrid [DWD] are coming off a midweek goalless draw with Espanyol. Despite 25 shots, with 7 of them on target, Atlético Madrid failed to find the back of the net. The result leaves the Mattress Makers in 4th place with five points [1W, 2D, 0L] going into Match Day 4.

Despite being early days in La Liga, Atlético Madrid will be looking to catch up with league leaders Barcelona, who are only four points ahead. While they lost on their last visit to San Mamés in the Copa del Rey, Atlético Madrid could pick up back-to-back La Liga victories in the same calendar year over the hosts for the first time since 2018, having won 3-1 in April.

However, Atlético Madrid have lost four of their last six visits to Athletic in La Liga [1W, 1D, 4L]. Nevertheless, they will be looking to return as happy travellers following Saturday’s trip.

Diego Simeone is expected to deploy a 4-4-2 formation with Alexander Sørloth and former Manchester City forward, Julián Alvarez, who is yet to find the back of the net for the visitors since his arrival, in attack. Atlético Madrid have no injury worries ahead of this fixture.