Athletic Bilbao vs. Real Madrid Predictions

Prediction, Odds & Betting Tips for Athletic Bilbao vs. Real Madrid at La Liga

Where: San Mames, Bilbao, Spain
When: Saturday, Augusts 12, 9:30 pm CET

The start of the La Liga championship for Real Madrid won’t be easy at all, with the most successful Spanish club heading to Bilbao. Their rivalry with Athletic is massive, and we all know about the intense and grueling battles at San Mames. Both teams traveled overseas to have preseason games, against challenging and tough rivals.

Athletic Bilbao vs. Real Madrid Preview

Athletic Bilbao

The team from Basque played six events during the summer, winning just one. They’ve been to Mexico to meet Liga MX clubs, and after that came back to Europe where they clashed with teams like Celtics and Manchester United.

Athletic’s latest encounter was against the Red Devils, against whom they played 1-1. Manchester combined its lineup, but several top stars were included, so we can say that the Basques had a decent test before the start of the campaign.

Their football isn’t too appealing nor efficient. When Athletic plays, you won’t see too many goals, and only one event (vs. Celtic 3-2) had more than three hits combined. That’s been the case throughout the entire previous year and it seems that it’s not going to change.

Real Madrid

Los Blancos were on tour through the United States, where they had ultra-tough rivals. At first, they were better than AC Milan 3-2, coming back from a two-goal deficit. After that, Real was routine against Man Utd, 2-0, but following this contest, lost two in a row, to Barcelona, 0-3 and Juve, 1-3.

Though, that didn’t concern Ancelotti too much, because he focused on introducing Jude Bellingham to the new system and on adjusting the team to Karim Benzema’s absence.

Real’s overall performances were good. For instance, against Barca, they had a missed penalty and five hits to the woodwork, pressuring and squeezing the big rivals, yet not scoring.

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Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid Possible Lineups

Athletic Bilbao: Simon; De Marcos, Vivian, Yeray, Yuri; Vesga, D Garcia; I Williams, Sancet, N Williams; Guruzeta

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Kroos, Tchouameni, Valverde; Bellingham; Joselu, Vinicius Jr

Athletic Bilbao versus Real Madrid Head to Head

Real was triumphant in Bilbao last year, winning 0-2. The second event of the year was in Madrid, but back then, Athletic took one point, 1-1.

Six of the recent seven events between these two units have seen under 2.5 goals, so there is a trend of inefficient affairs when these two units clash.

Athletic Bilbao vs. Real Madrid Predictions

Real comes to San Mames to play hard football, and to try to outsmart the hosts. We don’t believe that either side will look to impose some high-pace tempo or be aggressive, so it’s normal to predict a low-scoring event. One more reason for this is tradition, which we won’t disregard.

Our verdict: Under 2.5 goals