🏏 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 18:30 CEST
Athletic Club
vs
Elche CF
4-2-3-1 vs 4-4-1-1
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- Athletic Club sit 12th on six points from four games, two wins and two defeats with a goal difference of +1. Elche are 19th and inside the relegation zone with a single point, 12 goals conceded and a difference of -7. Barcelona lead the table on 12 points from four, and both of tonight's teams have already lost to the leaders this season.
- Athletic have grown into the season. They lost 2-0 away at Barcelona on the opening weekend and 3-1 at home to Sevilla, but then won 2-0 at Celta Vigo and beat Atlético Madrid 3-0 in Bilbao last time out. Five goals scored and none conceded across those two victories is the form line they carry into this one.
- Elche's start has been bleak. A 1-1 draw at Deportivo La Coruña was followed by a 5-0 home thrashing by Barcelona, a 3-2 defeat at Racing Santander and a 2-3 home loss to Real Sociedad, a run of three straight losses. They have found the net five times, but 12 goals conceded in four matches is the number that defines their position.
- The Williams brothers start together again. Iñaki (32), the club captain, leads the line and holds a La Liga record for consecutive appearances, driving the side with his pressing and work rate. Younger brother Nico (24) takes the left of the attacking three; he scored in the EURO 2024 final and was named player of the tournament, and though right-footed he does his damage from the left in one-v-one situations.
- Nico's direct opponent is Elche's 19-year-old right-back Bouba Sangaré. Born in Elche to a Malian family, he became Levante's youngest ever debutant at 16 before being picked up by AS Roma, and he brings genuine pace and physicality. Containing one of the division's most explosive dribblers over 90 minutes is the assignment that could define the night for the visitors.
- Athletic's back four is stacked with experience. Aymeric Laporte (32, 189cm) won the Premier League and Champions League at Manchester City and was part of Spain's EURO 2024 squad, and he partners academy-raised Yeray Álvarez (31), the side's best one-v-one defender. Yuri Berchiche (36), a domestic treble winner at Paris Saint-Germain, holds the left, while Jesús Areso (27) returned last summer via a €12m release clause after 86 La Liga games at Osasuna.
- Oihan Sancet (26) is the man to watch in midfield. At 188cm the attacking midfielder combines late runs into the box with a fierce right-footed strike and real aerial presence, making him Athletic's most direct route to goal from the second line. Behind him, 33-year-old veteran Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta dictates tempo alongside 23-year-old Beñat Gerenabarrena, a 173cm B-team graduate who covers the ground.
- Elche set up in a 4-4-1-1 with 191cm Fernando Niño (25) as the reference point up front, a striker who has played for Mallorca, Villarreal and Burgos. Just behind him is Facundo Buonanotte (21, 174cm), the Argentina international whose left foot and close control were sharpened at Brighton and on loan at Leicester and Chelsea; his job is to find the pockets between Athletic's lines.
- Elche's midfield four carries a strong Atlético Madrid flavour. Left-footed Germán Valera (24) cuts inside from the right, and Morcillo also came through Atlético's academy, where he built his resistance to pressure in tight areas. In the centre sits Gonzalo Villar (28), an Elche academy product back at his first club after a spell at AS Roma, whose composure in possession will be tested by Athletic's press.
- Elche's defensive unit has an unusual make-up. Víctor Chust (26) is a Real Madrid academy graduate on loan from Cádiz, and beside him is Federico Redondo (23, 188cm), son of former Argentina midfielder Fernando Redondo and a holding midfielder by trade who arrived from Inter Miami. In goal, 39-year-old Argentine Mariano Dituro, the Zamora trophy winner in Segunda in 2024-25, faces a ten-year age gap with Spain's first-choice keeper Unai Simón (29).