UEFA Europa League Quarterfinals - 7 April 2016

bangelov · 04-07-16, 04:52 AM

Spanish duel in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals we have and first leg is at "San Mames" in Bilbao. This won't be the first Spanish tie for Athletic as they eliminated Valencia of Gary Neville in the last round while Sevilla comes after a win against Basel.
Both sides had poor weekend and their slips were combined with an away victory of Villarreal, so thus they're now on 9 points behind "The Yellow Submarine" in La Liga and their only hope to achieve Champions League football next season remains via Europa League, like Sevilla did last year again.
With an opportunity for third trophy in a row, Unai Emery's men are heading to The Basque Country after a surprising home defeat against another Basque club - 1:2 vs Real Sociedad. That was Sevilla's first home defeat after 17 successive wins at their "Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán”.
Athletic Bilbao had a home failure as well when they failed to win over Granada (1:1), but the good news from that game are that Iñaki Williams made his first appearance after end of February, but however, Sabin Merino pulled a hamstring injury. He's not the only missing name which Ernesto Valverde has - Raúl García is suspended, while most of you probably heard that season has ended for Aymeric Laporte.
I'm backing the same fact as in the previous round - Sevilla remains without a victory away from home this season, if we exclude their Copa del Rey matches which were against Segunda Division teams and one of them was against Real Betis. In all other matches Sevilla have 11 draws and 10 defeats, with only 1 draw in 5 European outings this season.
Athletic Bilbao surely realize how good chance they have to earn a good lead from their home game and they know how difficult it will be in Sevilla. That's why I believe that Athletic must use the poor away form of Sevilla and they can claim to take advantage of the situation - home win for "The Lions" from Bilbao.

Possible squads:

Athletic: Herrerín, Balenziaga, San José, Etxeita, De Marcos, Rico, Beñat, Lekue, Eraso, Susaeta, Aduriz. (4-2-3-1)

Sevilla: Soria, Escudero, Kolodziejczak, Rami, Coke, N'Zonzi, Krychowiak, Krohn-Dehli, Banega, Reyes, Gameiro. (4-2-3-1)

Pick: Athletic Bilbao
Odd: 2.20 @ Bet365
Stake: (5/10)