Europa League | League Stage

Oct 24, 2024 at 8pm UK

San Mames Barria

Athletic Bilbao vs Slavia Prague

Match preview

Athletic are back in Europe for the first time since 2017-18, having finished fifth in La Liga last season.

With the Europa League final taking place at San Mames, Los Leones will be hoping to go all the way in this season's competition.

Athletic have made a promising start to their European campaign, taking four points from their first two matches against Roma and AZ Alkmaar.

Aitor Paredes scored an 85th-minute equaliser to rescue a point in the Italian capital, before Inaki Williams and Oihan Sancet found the net in the second half to give Athletic a 2-0 home win over AZ on matchday two.

After losing away to Girona, Athletic bounced back with a strong performance on their return from the international break, beating Espanyol 4-1 thanks to Inaki Williams' brace and goals from Dani Vivian and Alex Berenguer.

Thanks to that win, Ernesto Valverde's team have now gone four home games without defeat (W3, D1). They'll head into Thursday's game with high hopes of claiming a third successive home victory.

Slavia Prague were hoping to make it to the Champions League main draw, but a 3-2 defeat to Lille in the playoff round meant they missed out on that and had to settle for a place in the Europa League.

It looks like they've put their disappointment at missing out on the Champions League to one side, having made an unbeaten start to their Europa League campaign. This has left them in ninth position, ahead of 12th-placed Athletic on goal difference.

Matej Jurasek and Mojmir Chytil both scored to help Slavia beat Bulgarian champions Ludogorets 2-0 away from home. Then, in a 1-1 home draw with Ajax, Tomas Chory scored the equaliser that was crucial to the result.

Jindrich Trpisovsky's team followed that hard-fought draw with two 2-1 league wins against rivals Sparta Prague and Jablonec. These results gave Slavia a six-point lead at the top of the Czech First League.

They've now won eight of their last nine matches in all competitions (D1), which is over two months since they suffered their most recent defeat in the first leg of their Champions League playoff clash with Lille.

Slavia have also won four away games in a row since that unsuccessful trip to France. They know they have their work cut out, though, to beat an Athletic side that has lost just once in their last 28 competitive home games.

Recent Performance

Athletic Bilbao Europa League form:DW

Athletic Bilbao form (all competitions):WDDWLW

Slavia Prague Europa League form:WD

Slavia Prague form (all competitions):WWWDWW

Injuries and suspensions

Atheltic Bilbao

No sidelined players

Slavia Prague

No sidelined players

Possible starting lineups

Athletic Bilbao possible starting lineup:

Agirrezabala; Gorosabel, Vivian, Paredes, Berchiche; Ruiz de Galarreta, Jauregizar; I. Williams, Sancet, N. Williams; Guruzeta

Slavia Prague possible starting lineup:

Kinsky; Holes, Zima, Boril; Doudera, Prebsl, Dorley, Diouf; Lingr, Provod, Chory