In-form Athletic Club crashing LaLiga title race
With Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid separated by one point at the top of LaLiga, the title battle appears to be a three-horse race. Athletic Club can put itself right back in contention with a win this weekend.
The top three were involved in Copa del Rey action in midweek and also have the Champions League on their minds.
But while two is company and three is a crowd, Athletic Club would love to gatecrash the party.
It thrashed Real Valladolid 7-1 last weekend to extend its unbeaten league run to 16 games and, though it is still five points off third-placed Atleti, a win over Diego Simeone's side would put the Basque club right in contention.
It takes on an Atleti outfit in the middle of series of titanic clashes with the top two.
Atleti played out a thrilling 4-4 draw at Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg and, three days after hosting Athletic Club, it faces a Champions League last-16 tie at Real Madrid.
Athletic will have a little more time before its Europa League adventure continues when it visits Roma on 6 March, but it has injury worries.
While winger Nico Williams, who has five assists and three goals in LaLiga this season, should recover from the flu which kept him out of midweek training, midfielder Oihan Sancet is a major doubt.
Sancet is the club's top scorer this season with 13 league goals, six of those coming in the last four games, but was taken off in the win over Valladolid with a thigh injury.
Atleti also has further cause for optimism given Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde has lost 10 of his 19 LaLiga matches against Simeone (W4 D5), his most defeats against a single coach in the competition.
Indeed, Simeone has not lost any of his 13 home games against Athletic in LaLiga (W11 D2); only against Valencia (G14 W10 D4) has he managed more home games without defeat in the competition (13 also against Getafe, Celta Vigo and Sevilla).
Barcelona leads the way on 54 points, a run of six successive wins taking it back to the top ahead of Real Madrid on goal difference, and it hosts Real Sociedad on Monday before heading to Lisbon for the Champions League game against Benfica on Wednesday.
Madrid beat Sociedad 1-0 on Thursday in the other Copa del Rey semi-final first leg and face a tough test at Real Betis on Sunday, with the seventh-placed side coming into the match on the back of two consecutive wins.
Betis was boosted by its successful appeal of winger Antony's red card at Getafe last week, leaving the Brazilian clear to face Los Blancos.
He has scored three goals in six games since his arrival on loan from Manchester United in January.
Madrid, meanwhile, is still without the suspended Jude Bellingham, while fellow midfielder Dani Ceballos is set to miss several weeks due to an injury he sustained in the win at La Real.
Kylian Mbappe should return to the Madrid side after missing the Copa del Rey game with a dental issue. The French forward scored both goals when Real defeated Betis 2-0 earlier in the season.
