Athletic Club v Sporting CP

Athletic Club v Sporting CP 

Wednesday January 28th, 2026

Champions League Matchday 8

Estadio San Mamés 

The warm up

The last matchday of the group stage for the Champions League sees two teams who spend their lives being called by the wrong names facing off against one another. So if you're looking for a match preview for Athletic Bilbao v Sporting Lisbon you've come to the wrong place. Off you fuck. 

Athletic Club, or in Basque Athletic Klube, are located in Bilbao, Spain. Specifically the Basque region of Spain. Pay attention this shit matters to them. Some simply refer to them just as Athletic in the same manner some call their visitors by just the name of Sporting. It's not exactly rocket engineering is it? Not that difficult to get your head around and avoid pissing off the locals should you find yourself ever heading off to either destination. 

They're known as Lehoiak (the lions) which is of course the same as the Leãos which is what Sporting are known as. Neither however play at The Den, or in fact the New Den which is the home of Millwall who are hardly likely to ever hunt amongst Europe's elite so we'll park them neatly to one side. Their nickname originates from the fact their stadium was built near the church of San Mamés which was named after the Saint who was thrown to the lions by the Romans because they were cunts back in those days. Much to their chagrin he pacified the lions and made them docile by preaching to them, so not just the atheists that get bored by religious people wanging on about God then, good to know. It's alleged he made friends with one of the lions but was then killed and taken up to heaven by angels. Lazy fuckers lions, should have befriended a lioness. You know what though, I'm going to call bullshit on that one and I'm not apologising for it either. So indebted to the local culture are the club that they named their stadium after the local church. You don't really need a venn diagram for this one. They're also known as Zuri-Gorriak (the red and whites) as the football club follow in the proud tradition of institutions worldwide in not overthinking their nicknames. Keep things simple. 

Founded in July of 1898 the club is one of three founded members of the Primera División, now more universally known as La Liga who have never been relegated and can lay claim to being the fourth most successful club in the Spanish top flight with 8 titles to their name. That's six more than Boavista and Belenses combined who could technically by the same measure lay claim to being Portugal's fourth most successful club. It'll come as no surprise to learn I'm sure if you hadn't already guessed that the other two clubs happen to be FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Along with a fourth club, Osasuna, they make up the only four member owned clubs in Spain. 

Its modus operandi centres around its Basque heritage. The club's official policy, known as cantera, is to sign players native to, or trained in the Greater Basque Country which includes Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Álava and Navarre all located in Spain as well as territories over the border in France - Labourd, Soule and Lower Navarre. I bet they don't suffer the same levels of clickbait nonsense during the transfer windows linking them to a raft of players. They do however allow their mister to be chosen from outside the Basque region. The current incumbent is Ernesto Valverde Tejedor who hails from the village of Viandar de la Vera which is listed as having a population of approximately 306 people. I'd put money on him being their most famous ex-resident. Whilst it may only be Spain's fourth most successful club, it can lay claim to being the most successful Basque club, albeit that's a relatively short list which also includes Real Socidedad, Osasuna and Deportivo Alavés. That's less than Lisboa as a city alone with Sporting, Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Casa Pia, Belenenses and Estrela. Still as they'll point out Sporting haven't historically been number one in their home city so they've got one up on us which is fair enough. Nowadays they only operate as a football club and have a successful women's team to rival the men's. Previous to the Spanish Civil war they were as their name suggests operating as an athletic club and the anglicised spelling of the word comes from the fact that football was introduced to Bilbao by British workers and students returning from studying on the isles. 

Their original home, the Estádio San Mamés officially opened its doors in 1913 and was demolished in 2013 having reached the grand old age of 100 but outgrown its usefulness, to be replaced by the 53,331 capacity ground of the same name. It's located in Rafael Moreno Pitxitxi Kalea, Bilbao which I mention for no other reason than it was a bastard for me to read in researching this, therefore I don't see why you should miss out. Constructed at a cost of €211 million it ranks as the seventh largest stadium in Spain. It boasts not only a safe standing section but also a singing section. Maybe the directors at Arsenal should take note.

The city of Bilbao was traditionally known as being a port and for its ship building but is probably now best known worldwide for the Guggenheim museum which opened its doors in 1997 and led to the new wave of futuristic architecture that can be found across its regenerated urban environment. 

Spare a thought if you will before kick off for the Athletic defender Yeray Alvarez who is currently serving a ten month suspension for taking a banned substance found in a medicine for hair loss treatment following his battle with testicular cancer. The 30 year old tested positive for Canrenone after the club's Europa League tie against Manchester United last May. Sure, throw the book at anyone deliberately trying to gain an unfair advantage but come on people have a fucking heart. I very much doubt you'd have found a single club in Spain or in European competition who'd have cried foul of him being allowed to continue playing. 

The two sides last met in the summer of 2024 with Sporting comfortable 3-0 winners though I'll caveat that with an asterisk that it was played in pre-season, but don't let that put you off reading my match report from the game if you'd like to know more;

https://outsideofthepride.blogspot.com/2024/07/sporting-cp-v-athletic-club.html

If nothing else it'll prove that I didn't cheat and just copy and paste the intro to this post. 

Athletic qualified for this season's competition by virtue of finishing fourth in La Liga which if that wasn't a piss take enough when only the top Portuguese club qualifies automatically, Villareal qualified finishing fifth spot with a fuck you very much to the neighbouring country. This season has been much harder as they try to juggle life in both competitions and their record at the time of writing ahead of their next game away to Sevilla on Saturday the 24th reads played 20, winning just 7 times, drawing 3 and losing 10, GF 18, GA 28. They sit in 10th level on points with their Basque rivals Real Sociedad who sit one place above them and Girona in turn a place below. Their last game was a 3-2 loss away to Mallorca, maybe guilty like a lot of teams this past weekend of having one eye on Europe as they face Atalanta away in Bergamo on Wednesday evening. Their home record in La Liga propping up their position in the table with 5 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses GF 10, GA 11. So maybe best not to expect a mass of goals in this forthcoming fixture. Of their 19 goals in La Liga, 12 have come from open play, 3 from set pieces, 3 penalties and an own goal. That's not to say they've not had the chances in front of goal, massively underperforming their XG of 27.6.

Top scorer Nico Williams with 4, Robert Navarro with 3 and the remainder shared between 9 other players excluding the aforementioned own goal. They've recorded 5 clean sheets (currently 1 in 4) and guilty of missing 30 big chances. Their XG conceded second highest in the league at 21.9. Only 5 of the leagues 20 clubs have conceded more.

Their biggest undefeated came in the final of the Supercopa 5-0 to FC Barcelona at the start of the month. Their biggest league defeat also to Barca 4-0. 

Ahead of their game against Atalanta they sit in 28th place in the Champions League table though by the time you read this that will mostly likely have changed because of results on Tuesday night. That aside they've played 6, won 1, drawn 2 and lost 3, GF 4, GA 9. Their average possession the fourth lowest in the competition with 43.8% of total passes during the game. Only Slavia Prague have scored fewer goals with 2. Villareal and Pafos joint second lowest scorers with 4 apiece also. They have managed to keep 2 clean sheets, the most impressive coming at home to Sporting's next opponents PSG. Their XG 7.2, so again like in the league they're guilty of not taking their chances rather than a failure to create them necessarily. An average of 3.3 shots on target per game with a shot conversion rate of 5.6%. Sporting's ahead of their game with PSG 4.8 at a much healthier 17.1%. Big chances created 13, 1 more than Sporting. Big chances missed - 11. 84.61%. Ouch. You think that's bad wait until you find out later where they came.

Joint highest total fouls per game on 17.2 with Slavia Prague. Just 11 bookings however the same total as ours. 

Athletics Champions League campaign to date 

Matchday 1 - Arsenal (H) 

Tough opener for the Basque side as they welcomed the North Londoners. Their defence held firm until the 71st minute when Martinelli Put the visitors 1-0 up and Trossard added a second 4 minutes from time to consign them to defeat. Athletic suffering from the loss of creativity Nico Williams brings to the side as he remained absent through injury. XG 0.35 to 1.28. No big chances for the home side, Arsenal missed 2 of their 3.

Matchday 2 - BVB (A)

Poor defensive display by Athletic away in Germany. BVB took the lead on 27 minutes from a far post tap in from Svensson. They doubled their lead on 49 minutes from a Chukwuemeka goal from an acute angle at the near post which the keeper really should have done better with. Guruzeta gave the visitors some hope pulling a goal back on the hour mark but to no avail as Guirassy made it 3-1 and Brandt with the pick of the night's goals on 90 minutes to secure the win. XG despite the scoreline, a relatively even 1.18 to 0.95. The Germans scored both their big chances, Athletic converting only one of their 2.

Matchday 3 - Qarabag FK (H) 

The visitors went ahead after just 49 seconds when two defenders misjudged a throw and could only watch in horror as the ball went over their heads and found the unmarked Andrade whose low shot from the edge of the six yard box nestled into the far corner of the net. They equalised on 39 minutes with a long ball from their own half which caught two defenders napping and Guruzeta burst clear and fired home a shot from just outside the box which their keeper got a hand to, but couldn't stop from hitting the net. They then took the lead on 69 minutes through Navarro with an almost carbon copy of the Paixão goal for Marseille against Sporting, this time from 18 yards flying again into the top right hand corner. Guruzeta grabbed his second on the night with 3 minutes remaining as his first touch lifted the pass to allow him to swivel and volley home from 19 yards into the bottom left hand corner. The 3 points, the first on the board for the Basque side. XG 3.47 to 0.52, Athletic missed, count them - SIX of SEVEN big chances. QFK 1 of 2.

Matchday 4 - Newcastle United (A) 

Dan Burn gave the Geordies the lead on ten minutes with a powerful header unmarked on the left, level with the penalty spot that seemed to defy physics and bend into the far corner. Joelinton consigned the Spaniards to their third defeat in four heading in from 6 yards on 48 minutes. Full time Newcastle 2 Athletic Club 0. XG 1.20 to 0.58. Athletic clearly used up their big chance rations last time out failing to create a single one. Newcastle missed 2 of their 3.

Matchday 5 - Slavia Prague (A) 

The Basque side travelled to the Czech Republic looking to improve on a poor start to the campaign which had seen them win just one of their opening four games. Despite creating four big chances in the game to Slavia's 1, Athletic were unable to find the net and the game finished in a stalemate at 0-0. Xg 0.57 to 1.32. 

Matchday 6 - PSG (H)

Athletic went into the game with just 4 points to their name needing a positive result if they're to qualify for the knockout rounds whereas the current European Champions knew a win would see them one step closer to automatic qualification. Nuno Mendes started knowing a booking would rule him out of the game at the José Alvalade and thankfully for him at least we should now see him out on the pitch in the next round. Sadly for us that means we've got to play against an even more improved version of the much loved player and most probably to our detriment. PSG missing a host of big name players including the Ballon D'or winner Ousmane Dembélé, Achraf Hakimi who is rated by many as the best right back in world football, first choice keeper Lucas Chevalier and Lucas Hernández who was suspended. Back to fitness for Athletic the highly rated Nico Williams, this only his third outing in this season's competition after a long lay off. 

Come full time the statistics show the Parisians recording 2 attempts to every 1 from the home side. 18 shots to 9, 5 Opta defined big chances created for PSG, 5 big chances missed, Athletic didn't create a single one. XG of 0.56 to 2.05, 186 passes to 597 completed. So who had Athletic Club 0 PSG 0 on their bingo card? Not many I'm sure but that's how it ended. PSG 3rd in the table two points off Bayern and 5 off Arsenal, level with Manchester City and Atalanta. Athletic 2 points behind FC København who occupy the last knockout place in 24th.

Matchday 7 - Atalanta (A)

Details to follow once played 

Transfers 

As alluded to earlier with their Basque players policy it leaves the club with a very small pool of players available to them, reliant instead largely on players coming through their academy. In the summer Aymeric Laporte was signed from Al Nassr for a fee of £8.3 million rejoining the club where he made his name before heading to Manchester City. He's currently injured and not expected to return until early next month. Jesus Areso joined for £10 million from Basque neighbours Osasuna. Again a player who started with Athletic's academy but had to leave to get game time before retuning four years later. Their one remaining signing that of Robert Navarro on a free from Mallorca. So far no new additions in the winter window. 

In the markets 

Athletic Club TBC

Draw TBC

Sporting CP TBC