Overview
Athletic Bilbao are playing quite impressively in this year's Europa League. With the final being held right at their home stadium San Mames, they will certainly set very high goals.
After the first 5 rounds of this year's Europa League, Athletic Bilbao won 13/15 maximum points, and is completely capable of finishing in the top 8 in the League Phase.
Of course, part of the reason for Athletic Bilbao's good results is that they have not faced any formidable opponents. If anything, AS Roma and AZ Alkmaar are two big-name opponents they have faced.
The real test for Athletic Bilbao will come when they travel to Fenerbahce. The Sukru Saracoglu Stadium is where Fenerbahce are unbeaten in their last five games.
Therefore, Athletic Bilbao will have to be wary of Fenerbahce's strength in this match. The La Liga representative is in better form, but coach Jose Mourinho's team has the home field advantage. It is likely that this match will end with 1 point for each side.
After 5 rounds of Europa League this season, Fenerbahce has only suffered 1 loss. That was against AZ Alkmaar on the opponent's field. Meanwhile, in the remaining 4 matches, this club won 2 victories and 2 draws.
Fenerbahce and Athletic Bilbao rarely meet in European competition. The last time the two teams met was in a summer friendly in 2017, when the two sides drew 0-0 after 90 minutes of regulation time.
Human resources situation
Home team Fenerbahce will be without Yandas, Soyuncu and Oosterwolde due to injury in this match.
On the other side of the front line, Athletic Bilbao cannot summon Ander Herrera for the same reason.
Expected lineup:
Fenerbahce: Livakovic, Osayi-Samuel, Akaydın, Djiku, Kostic, Amrabat, Fred, Tadic, Yandas, Aydın, En-Nesyri.
Athletic Bilbao: Aggirezabala, Gorosabel, Vivian, Alvarez, Berchiche, Jauregizar, Prados, I. Williams, Sancet, N. Williams, Berenguer.
The match between Fenerbahce and Athletic Bilbao takes place at 22:30 on December 11 (Vietnam time).
