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E-mail Xinhua, March 13, 2025
Athletic Club Bilbao faces Roma in the San Mames Stadium on Thursday night knowing it has to overturn a 2-1 first leg defeat if it wants to keep alive the dream of playing May's Europa League final in its home ground.
The Basque side looked to have secured a 1-1 draw in the Olympic Stadium in Rome after an intense first leg, only for a lapse in concentration to allow Eldor Shomurodov to score with the last kick of the game and change the complexion of the tie.
Roma's Eldor Shomurodov (L) vies with Monza's Arvid Brorsson during a Serie A football match between Roma and Monza in Rome, Italy, Feb. 24, 2025. (Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua)
Last Thursday's game also came at a cost to Athletic, who lost Spain international defender Dani Vivian to a muscle injury, while Yeray Alvarez was sent off five minutes from time.
There is still a big doubt over the fitness of top-scorer, Oihan Sancet, who missed the first leg and Sunday's 1-1 draw at home to Mallorca with a hamstring problem. If Sancet recovers it will be a huge boost to coach Ernesto Valverde, but if not, Alex Berenguer or Unai Gomez will come into the side, behind either Gorka Guruzeta or Maroan Sannadi in attack.
The match is sold out, with 3,000 fans travelling from Italy meaning a security cordon will be around San Mames to try and avoid any incidents.
Real Sociedad travels to Manchester on Thursday after a 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United a week ago.
Last week's tie saw United play better in the first half, while Real Sociedad improved after the break and could have taken a narrow win.
The game comes in the wake of comments made by United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe criticizing several of the players in the squad and also following the announcement that the club will start work on building a 100,000-capacity stadium to replace Old Trafford.
Luka Sucic is a doubt for Real Sociedad, who will need to improve on its weekend defeat to Sevilla, while Kobbie Mainoo, Jonny Evans and Lisandro Martinez are out for the home side, who also have doubts over Harry Maguire and Manuel Ugarte.
