Match preview

Athletic have enjoyed an excellent La Liga campaign to date, boasting a record of 11 wins, six draws and three defeats from 20 matches, which has left them in fourth spot in the table on 39 points, level on points with third-placed Barcelona.

Ernesto Valverde's side are actually only seven points off the top of the division, so they could be considered to be title contenders, and they were 2-1 winners over Celta Vigo in La Liga last weekend.

The Lions are unbeaten in their last 11 league matches dating back to a 2-1 defeat to Girona at the start of October, winning six of their last seven, but the Basque outfit have been beaten in three of their last four games in all competitions.

Indeed, Athletic lost 2-0 to Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup on January 8 before going out of the Copa del Rey eight days later due to a 3-2 home defeat to Osasuna.

Valverde's team will also enter this match off the back of a loss, going down 4-1 to Besiktas in the Europa League on Thursday, but they are still in an excellent position when it comes to reaching the knockout round of the competition, sitting third in the table.

Leganes will undoubtedly enter this match as the underdogs, but they will arrive at San Mames full of confidence, boasting a four-game unbeaten run at the start of 2025, including a sensational 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid last time out.

Atletico arrived at Estadio Municipal de Butarque with a 15-game winning run in all competitions, but Diego Simeone's side suffered a 1-0 defeat, with Matija Nastasic scoring the only goal of the match early in the second period.

Borja Jimenez's side have a record of five wins, seven draws and eight defeats from their 20 league matches this season, which has left them in 15th spot in the table on 22 points, three points clear of the relegation zone.

El Lega won the 2023-24 Segunda Division to secure a return to the top flight, and the team have been impressive in their first campaign at this level since 2019-20.

Leganes, who also beat Barcelona 1-0 away from home towards the end of last year, suffered a 2-0 defeat to Athletic in the reverse game earlier this season, but they were 2-0 winners on their last trip to San Mames in July 2020.

Athletic Bilbao possible starting lineup:

Simon; Gorosabel, Vivian, Yeray, Boiro; Benat, Gomez, Jauregizar; I Williams, Berenguer, N Williams

Leganes possible starting lineup:

Dmitrovic; Rosier, Gonzalez, Nastasic, Saenz, J Hernandez; Raba, Neyou, Cisse, Cruz; De la Fuente