🏏 Sat, 5 Sep 2026 16:15 CEST
Athletic Club
vs
Atletico Madrid
4-2-3-1 vs 4-4-2
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Athletic Club have made a sluggish start, sitting 13th on three points from three games with one win and two defeats, while Atletico Madrid are unbeaten in fourth on seven points. The goal-difference gap tells the same story: +4 for the visitors against -2 for the hosts. With leaders Barcelona already on nine points from three matches, Bilbao can ill afford to let the top of the table drift further away.
- Their routes here have been very different. Athletic lost 2-0 at Barcelona and 3-1 at home to Sevilla before winning 2-0 at Celta Vigo for their first three points. Atletico beat Malaga 2-0 at home, were held 2-2 by Villarreal, then won 3-1 away at Sevilla. The Sevilla results frame the contrast neatly: one side came apart against them at home, the other saw the job through on the road.
- The Williams brothers again carry Athletic's attack. Inaki, 32, leads the line as captain and holds the record for consecutive La Liga appearances, driving the side with his pace and pressing from the front. Younger brother Nico starts on the left, a right-footer who thrives cutting in from that flank, and at 24 he arrives with a goal in the Euro 2024 final and the tournament's player-of-the-tournament award behind him.
- Atletico's 4-4-2 pairs Alex Baena with South Korea international Lee Kang-in up top rather than a conventional number nine. Baena, a 1.75m creator who won the Europa League with Villarreal and has topped La Liga's assist charts, works either side of the front line, while Lee's left foot and dribbling success rate, among the best in Europe's big five leagues, make him lethal in tight spaces. Tracking that fluid pair is the first task for Laporte and company.
- Athletic's back four is stacked with mileage. Yuri Berchiche, 36, takes the left-back slot having won a domestic treble with Paris Saint-Germain, and alongside him is Aymeric Laporte, a Premier League and Champions League winner at Manchester City who also lifted Euro 2024. Academy product Yeray Alvarez, 31, brings his duel-winning strength in the middle, with Jesus Areso, who made 86 La Liga appearances for Osasuna, at right-back after a 12-million-euro release-clause move in the summer of 2025.
- The flanks look decisive. Atletico field Nigeria international Ademola Lookman, scorer of a hat-trick in a Europa League final, and Giuliano Simeone, the manager's son and an Argentina international, as their wide midfielders. Behind them, Marcos Llorente, 31 and comfortable anywhere from midfield to right-back, is charged with tracking Nico Williams, while Alex Grimaldo, a key figure in Bayer Leverkusen's unbeaten title season, pushes on from the left.
- The central midfield match-up is a study in contrasts. Atletico anchor with Denmark international Morten Hjulmand, a 1.85m holder who captained both Lecce and Sporting CP before a 40-million-euro move, partnered by 23-year-old academy graduate Pablo Barrios. Athletic answer with 33-year-old de Galarreta, who rebuilt his career across several Segunda clubs before returning to Bilbao in 2023, and 1.73m 23-year-old Herrenabarrena, promoted from the B team.
- Both goalkeepers rank among the best in Spain. Unai Simon, the 1.90m Spain number one whose penalty shoot-out heroics at Euro 2020 underlined his temperament, starts for the hosts and is comfortable enough with his feet to be a genuine build-up outlet. Atletico have Jan Oblak, the 33-year-old Slovenia international whose reflexes and positioning have underpinned the club's defensive record for a decade.
- Atletico's bench is close to absurd in its depth. Julian Alvarez, a 2022 World Cup winner who also took the Premier League and Champions League at Manchester City, waits alongside club legend Koke, past 700 appearances, plus fellow World Cup winner Cristian Romero at centre-back and Euro 2024 champion Robin Le Normand. Athletic keep aerial power in reserve too, with the 1.88m Gorka Guruzeta and 1.92m Morocco international Maroan Sannadi available.