Athletic Club vs Real Madrid: TV channel, live stream, team news & prediction
By Max Parsons
Athletic Club and Real Madrid go head to head in Saudi Arabia on Sunday evening, playing out the final of the Spanish Super Cup.
Los Blancos finished runners up in La Liga last term to earn their spot in the semi-finals of this competition, where they ran out 3-2 extra-time winners against Barcelona in a thrilling Clasico on Wednesday. That victory was Carlo Ancelotti's side's third in succession since returning from the winter break with a sub-par 1-0 defeat to Getafe.
Athletic earned their place in this tournament as runners-up in last season's Copa del Rey, and saw off reigning La Liga champions Atletico with a 2-1 win last time out. Marcelino's men are in good form heading into Sunday's final, with a total of three wins and a draw in all competitions since the resumption of Spain's season.
Here's 90min's preview of the Super Cup final.
How to watch Athletic Club vs Real Madrid on TV
When is kick off? Sunday 16 January, 18:30 (GMT)
Where is it being played? King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
What TV channel is it on? BT Sport 3 (UK), ESPN+ (US)
Highlights? BT Sport YouTube channel
Who's the referee? Cesar Soto Grado
Who's the VAR? David Medie Jimenez
Athletic Club team news
Marcelino will have to make do without Unai Nunez, Unai Vencedor, Ander Capa and Asier Villalibre who all miss out due to injury.
Elsewhere, the Basque outfit are looking fit and healthy with competition for places as the final nears. Nico Williams will be hopeful of earning a start alongside brother Inaki in attack, following his late match-winning strike against Atleti to send his side through to Sunday's final.
Real Madrid team news
Mariano Diaz and Gareth Bale will once more miss out having not travelled to Saudi Arabia with the squad due to hamstring and back problems respectively. Meanwhile, Nacho Fernandez should be set for another start here, as David Alaba will likely not recover from his own hamstring issue in time for a return to the starting XI.
Elsewhere, Lucas Vazquez should come into the side at right-back after Dani Carvajal returned a positive Covid-19 test during the week.
You can read 90min's predicted lineup here
Athletic Club vs Real Madrid head to head record
These two heavyweights of Spanish football have met a total of 201 times in competitive football since they first faced each other back in 1903. Los Blancos, quite predictably, have enjoyed the fixture most, winning over half of their encounters (103), while Bilbao have managed 60 victories - the clubs have drawn 38 times.
Athletic, in fact, did manage to beat Real in the semi-finals of the 2020/21 Spanish Super Cup - although that represents their only victory over the current La Liga leaders in 15 encounters, with Los Blancos boasting ten wins in that time.
Athletic Club vs Real Madrid prediction
This should be a very interesting match-up.
Athletic are annoyingly resilient and rarely demonstrate the sort of flamboyancy that leaves a side susceptible to ruthless counter attacks, while Real don't really possess the midfield dynamism in their first-choice lineup to press incessantly for the duration of a game.
That being said, Los Blanocs have displayed an impressive knack of grinding out wins with a variation of style this campaign and really do seem somewhere near their domineering best - particularly with the pure genius of Karim Benzema being complemented by the dazzling Vinicius Jr this term.
While it could be a fairly attritional affair for large parts, you'd expect nothing but a Real Madrid win under current circumstances.
Prediction: Athletic Club 1-2 Real Madrid