Athletic Club vs Real Valladolid Match Preview & Predictions

Athletic Club vs Real Valladolid match preview and predictions for Wednesday’s LaLiga match. Read on for the head-to-head, team news and predicted lineups as Real Valladolid travel to San Mames.

Athletic Club vs Real Valladolid Preview

The Wednesday evening action in LaLiga comes from San Mames. This is Athletic Club’s game in hand – a result of their involvement in the Copa del Rey Final. In truth though, it’s a bigger match for visitors Real Valladolid who are fighting against relegation.

Athletic come into this one after one of their best wins of the season – as they defeated leaders Atletico Madrid 2-1 in Bilbao at the weekend. Inigo Martinez headed home a late winner to do serious damage to Atleti’s title hopes. It also gives Athletic just a glimmer of hope when it comes to the race for European football.

Win here and they’d be 5 points off Villarreal in 7th and 6 behind Real Betis in 6th. With Villarreal having some significant European distractions, it’s not impossible Athletic could catch them but anything less than victory here would surely end their hopes. Athletic had been struggling to chalk up the league wins prior to their success on Sunday night with Marcelino’s side having drawn 5 in a row in LaLiga heading into that game.

Real Valladolid have also been in the habit of drawing matches with 4 of their last 6 in LaLiga ending level. That included their weekend home game against Cadiz but Sergio would have left disappointed by his side’s failure to pick up all the points in one of their most winnable remaining fixtures. The result leaves Real Valladolid in the bottom three heading into midweek where they are the only one of the struggling teams in action.

It’s not an easy run-in either for Real Valladolid and at some point, they are going to have to pull an unexpected win out of the bag. This would be as good a time as any to do just that but they look a bit short on inspiration in the final third and could really do with someone like Fabian Orellana or Shon Weissman finding a purple patch of form otherwise the outlook may be quite bleak for them.

Head to Head

• Last 6 Competitive Meetings: 2 Athletic Wins, 2 Real Valladolid Wins, 2 Draws.
• The last 2 meetings in Bilbao both ended 1-1.
• Athletic had won their previous 3 home games against this opposition.
• Real Valladolid emerged as 2-1 winners in the reverse fixture earlier this term.

Team News

Iker Muniain misses out again for Athletic while Unai Vencedor is injured. Yeray Alvarez and Ander Capa are both rated doubtful.

Kenan Kodro is ineligible against his parent club. Raul Garcia is still injured.

Predicted Athletic Starting Lineup:

Simon – Balenziaga, Martinez, Nunez, De Marcos – Morcillo, Vesga, Dani Garcia, Berenguer – Villalibre, Williams (4-4-2)

Predicted Real Valladolid Starting Lineup:

Roberto – Olaza, Bruno, Joaquin, Janko – Plano, Alcaraz, Mesa, Plano – Andre, Weissman (4-4-2)

Athletic Club vs Real Valladolid Prediction – Athletic to Win 1-0

Athletic’s win over the league leaders on Sunday may just give them a fresh lease of life and a sense that they can go on and at least put some pressure on the sides in the European places. This is unlikely to be a classic in truth but the hosts may have just enough to edge it.