Athletic Bilbao vs Marseille – UEFA Europa League – Preview

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Sreya

Athletic Bilbao vs Marseille – Athletic Bilbao hosts Marseille at the San Mames Barria on 15th March, Thursday in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League Round of 16 fixture.

The first leg in France resulted in a 3-1 win for the Ligue 1 club and the Basque club are now in an uphill battle to overturn the two-goal deficit.

Athletic Club Bilbao had finished top of their group in the UEFA Europa League group stages and set up a meeting with Marseille, who dropped down from the UEFA Champions League.

Team News

Iker Muniain is injured while Inigo Martinez is ineligible. Mikel San Jose and Raul Garcia are suspended as well. The visitors will be without the injured Kostas Mitroglou.

Athletic Bilbao Possible Starting Lineup: Iago Herrerin, Oscar de Marcos, Yeray Alvarez, Xabier Etxeita, Mikel Balenziaga, Ander Iturraspe, Benat Etxebarria, Inaki Williams, Mikel Vesga, Markel Susaeta, Aritz Aduriz.

Marseille Possible Starting Lineup: Steve Mandanda, Hiroki Sakai, Adil Rami, Rolando, Jordan Amavi, Maxime Lopez, Luiz Gustavo, Florian Thauvin, Dimitri Payet, Lucas Ocampos, Valere Germain.

“We expect a start of match rhythmic actually. It’s up to us to take advantage of this, we will have spaces to exploit. If we scored in the first half hour, it would be better. We do not come tomorrow (Thursday) to play 0-0, we will not play in our area. To count on our lead of the first leg, it would be a big mistake.”

– Rudi Garcia, Marseille.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Athletic Club Bilbao vs Marseille H2H Stats, the previous three meetings between these two clubs resulted in a win, a loss and a draw for either side. Marseille’s win in the first leg has swung the tie in their favour but Aduriz is the top scorer in the UEFA Europa League with eight goals and he’ll be crucial for Athletic Bilbao tonight.

It should be a closely contested affair with a 2-1 win for Athletic Bilbao being the most probable result, but Marseille are likely to progress to the quarter-finals.