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Athletic Club are unbeaten in eight meetings with Levante, winning five, including an extra time victory in last season’s Copa del Rey semi-finals. Levante have only won twice at San Mamés this century, doing so in 2013 and 2018.
Athletic Club to win is 8/15.
Athletic Club to win and both teams to score is 13/5.
Iñaki Williams is 7/2 to break the deadlock and 21/20 to score anytime.
Match preview
There will be no Copa del Rey Final appearance for Athletic Club Bilbao in 2022.
On Wednesday night, the Lions were aiming to reach a third consecutive Copa Final for the first time in 77 years.
However, Marcelino’s men could not pull off a memorable away victory, going down 1-0, thereby agonisingly missing out.
So now, all Athletic Club have to focus on is La Liga and the race for a European place.
Last Sunday night, a much-changed Athletic team was hammered 4-0 at Camp Nou by Barcelona with three goals coming towards the end of the night.
A week earlier, they’d been on the right end of a 4-0 home win, hammering Real Sociedad in their biggest Basque Derby victory since 1959.
In all, the Lions have amassed 13 points from seven La Liga games this year so are eighth, five points below the European positions.
With Barça, Atlético, Real Sociedad and Villarreal all in good form, Athletic can’t afford to drop too many points if they’re to catch any of them.
Levante too are in desperate need of points, but down at the other end of the table.
Last time out, the Frogs scored 3+ in a La Liga game for the first time since December 2020, hammering Elche 3-0 at Estadi Ciutat de València.
José Luis Morales, Jorge de Frutos and then Gonzalo Melero all on target.
So, Alessio Lisci’s side have now amassed seven points from their last three games, beating Atlético away and then drawing with Celta in Vigo.
These three matches have yielded more points than their previous 13 outings.
Despite the upturn, Levante remain bottom of the table, but do start the weekend just seven points adrift of safety.
Will Levante’s unbeaten run continue at San Mamés?
Athletic Bilbao team news
One guarantee is that Iñaki Williams will feature, almost certainly from the start, having played some part in 221 successive La Liga games.
He last missed on 17 April 2016 against Málaga due to injury.
Raúl García is likely to be his partner up front but Oihan Sancet could return out-wide.
In goal, Julen Agirrezabala was a surprise choice for both Copa semi-final legs but regular number one Unai Simón will return here.
Levante team news
Martín Cáceres’ arrival from Cagliari in January has coincided with Levante’s upturn in form.
The Uruguayan, brought in to replace the injured Shkodran Mustafi, has been excellent so far.
In attack, having both scored against Elche, José Luis Morales and Jorge de Frutos will keep their places.
Roger will lead the line, getting the nod over Roberto Soldado.
La Liga table:
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