Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Europa League clash between Athletic Bilbao and AZ Alkmaar, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Athletic Bilbao will host their first European game at San Mames in over six years when AZ Alkmaar travel to the Basque Country in the Europa League on Thursday.
An impressive draw away in the Italian capital got Athletic’s campaign off to a good start, while AZ were victorious on matchday one.
Match preview
© Imago
Bilbao will feel they are back where they belong after such a surprisingly lengthy absence from continental football, considering they qualified seven times in nine years between 2009 and 2018.
Ensuring European football came to San Mames was believed to be a deciding factor in Nico Williams staying with the club over the summer too, with the local boy keen to represent his club on the continent.
Aitor Paredes’s late goal at the Stadio Olimpico saw Athletic clinch a point away to Roma on the opening matchday, in what…
