Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia Betting Tips and Predictions

Athletic Bilbao are the favourites to win this tie in no small part down to their stunning 3-0 win at the Mestalla less than a fortnight ago. They scored 3 goals in the space of 7 minutes to blow Valencia away and that should give them a mental edge here. They’ve certainly been the more impressive of the two sides in La Liga this season. Athletic have 10 points more than Valencia and are 5 places better off and looking good to be in this competition again next year. They come into this match on the back of 3 successive wins too. The first of which was against Valencia and they’ve won 4-1 at home to Deportivo La Coruna and 2-0 at Sporting Gijon since then with 35 year old striker Aritz Aduriz moving to a staggering 28 goals for the season in all competitions.

He helped change the game when he came on at the Mestalla when these sides last met and Valencia may have a tough time dealing with him here provided the veteran can shake off a weekend knock. Gary Neville’s men were beaten again at the weekend going down 3-1 at home to Atletico Madrid but have won 5 of their last 7 matches overall including a huge 10-0 aggregate win against Rapid Vienna in the last round. This will be far tougher though clearly and an Athletic side who have the 3rd best goalscoring record in La Liga behind Barca and Real Madrid, are well equipped to punish their defensive frailties.

Ignoring games against Barcelona and Real Madrid, Athletic have only lost once at home in the past 12 months since going out of Europe to Torino in this competition last year. Valencia have some talented players but are still developing into a team you sense whereas Athletic are a settled side that have been playing well for most of the last 12 months and backing Athletic Bilbao to Win at 8/11 looks to be where the smart money lies here.