La Liga: Los Leones Won’t be Docile Against Atleti at San Mames

Athletic Bilbao vs Atletico Madrid

Two of the top four teams in La Liga will go head-to-head this Saturday as Athletic Bilbao host Atletico Madrid at San Mames.

While Atletico Madrid –champions back in the 2020-21 season – are expected to be here, the same can’t be said for Athletic Bilbao, which is why it’s a pleasant surprise to see them punching above their weight.

Los Leones’ fantastic start has put them third in the Spanish top-flight standings with 17 points, which is one point ahead of their opponents Los Rojiblancos.

Atletico Madrid are fresh from a frustrating draw against Club Brugge yesterday, so Diego Simeone’s men are looking for a positive result here. However, the pre-match SBOTOP betting odds say that they’ll have to earn their points the hard way again.

Talking Points

Williams brothers leading the charge for Bilbao

Athletic Bilbao missed out on Europe last season given their eighth place finish, but there’s a sense that they can make it this time around. Having no continental competition this season meant that they could fully focus on their domestic commitments, which has turned into an advantage for them.

Last summer, Los Leones brought back Ernesto Valverde for a third spell as their manager. Despite their quiet transfer activity because of their strict Basque-only recruitment policy, the former Barcelona boss has proven his coaching calibre once more.

Los Leones have been one of the most exciting attacking sides as they’ve already scored 17 goals in their first eight games – good for third in the league. They have done it by committee as they have four different scorers with three goals apiece, namely, Alex Berenguer, Oihan Sancet, and the Williams brothers.

Nico and Inaki Williams have been making headlines in the La Liga 2022 news. They were the first brothers since 2005 to score in the same La Liga game during their come-from-behind 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano and both are on course to represent their respective countries at the World Cup in Qatar.

Both are big, strong, and technically adroit, so opposing centre-backs have their hands full dealing with them.

Valverde will have a fully fit squad to choose from against Atletico Madrid, with only Ander Herrera sitting out after he was red-carded in their 1-1 draw versus Sevilla on Sunday.

Antoine Griezmann can now play full time for Atleti

Antoine Griezmann has finally completed his permanent transfer to Atletico Madrid which means that Diego Simeone can utilise the Frenchman however he sees fit, and his main task is to find the proper attacking combination with quality players at his disposal.

Prior to the said agreement with Barca, Griezmann initially returned to Los Rojiblancos on loan in 2021. Atletico Madrid didn’t want to pull the trigger on their £34-M buy option on him that would be activated if he played a certain amount of minutes, and that was the reason why the Frenchman only got off the bench after the hour mark.

Griezmann has now started in three straight games, although he has yet to find the back of the net since then. This season he has three goals, and that number should improve if Atletico Madrid are to vie for major honours. 

History

Athletic Bilbao fancy their chances since they’re undefeated in their last three La Liga games against Atletico Madrid (W2, D1) and they’ve tallied a clean sheet in their last two. They’ve avoided defeat in four or more games in a row against Madrid-based sides in La Liga for the first time since April 2003 (W3, D1).

At San Mames, Los Leones are also unbeaten in their last four league games against Los Rojiblancos (W3, D1), which is their longest undefeated run at home against them since December 1991 (W10, D5).

Their last meeting took place in May where Athletic Bilbao beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 through an own goal from Mario Hermoso and a penalty kick by Inaki Williams near the hour mark.

Betting Tip

Since they’re in better recent form, Athletic Bilbao were given the edge by the La Liga 2022 odds. The hosts are installed to win at 2.53, while Atletico Madrid are not far off at 2.77 and a draw is priced at 3.20 in the 1X2 market.

Given that this match is tough to call, we’ll look into the first half and we’re backing the hosts to make a fast start since they’ve led at half-time in majority of their La Liga games this season, while Atletico Madrid can take a bit longer to get going.

 

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