Athletic Bilbao and Viktoria Plzen will both be looking to seal last-16 spots when they face off in Thursday's Europa League clash at San Mames.
The hosts head into the final round of the league phase in third place, while the side from Czechia are sitting in 11th position with two points separating them from the top eight.
Match preview
Athletic will be pleased with their work in their first European campaign since 2017-18, having won five, drawn one and lost one of their seven matches in the league phase.
Los Leones held Roma to a draw in their opening match, before they went on to record five consecutive European victories over AZ Alkmaar, Ludogorets, Elfsborg and Fenerbahce.
Unfortunately for Athletic, they were unable to maintain their unbeaten record in last week's away clash with Besiktas, conceding three second-half goals in a heavy 4-1 defeat in Istanbul.
Despite being swept aside by Besiktas, Ernesto Valverde's side are still well placed to advance straight to the last 16, with three points separating them from the teams sitting just outside the top eight ahead of the final round of league phase matches.
However, they will enter Thursday's fixture off the back of a frustrating goalless draw in Sunday's home league clash with Leganes, meaning that they have now won just one of their last six competitive matches in regulation time.
Nevertheless, Athletic will still fancy their chances of claiming all three points on matchday eight after winning each of their three home games in the league phase without conceding, including a 1-0 victory over another Plzen's domestic rivals Slavia Prague in October.
After reaching the Conference League quarter-finals last season, Plzen are already looking forward to featuring in the knockout rounds of a UEFA competition for the second campaign in a row.
The Czech side are guaranteed to finish in the top 24 of the Europa League league phase, having won three, drawn three and lost one of their seven matches in the main draw.
After drawing their opening three matches, Plzen got the better of Athletic's Basque rivals, Real Sociedad, to claim their first win of the league phase, before going on to add three more points to their tally with a home victory over Dynamo Kiev.
While their unbeaten record was taken away by a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United on matchday six, Plzen managed to return to winning ways in last week's home clash against Anderlecht, with Lukas Cerv and Prince Adu grabbing a goal apiece to fire their side to a 2-0 victory.
Although they are guaranteed a knockout-round playoff place, Plzen know that a win in their first competitive meeting with Athletic could see them upgrade that to a last-16 spot if other results go their way on matchday eight.
The visitors will feel that they possess the attacking threat to cause Athletic a number of problems, having scored at least two goals in each of their three away games in the league phase (D2, L1).
Team News
Athletic midfielder Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta will miss out after picking up a hamstring injury in last week's clash with Besiktas.
Valverde could be tempted to freshen up his side, with Oscar de Marcos, Aitor Paredes, Yuri Berchiche, Benat Prados and Unai Gomez all in contention to feature in the starting lineup.
Alvaro Djalo has returned to training following his injury absence at the weekend, meaning that he should provide an option off the bench for the midweek encounter.
As for the visitors, they could be without the services of midfielder Cheick Souare, who missed last week's win over Anderlecht through injury.
Merchas Doski and Amar Memic have joined the club earlier this month, but the pair are ineligible to feature in the Europa League league phase.
With the Czech top flight still on a winter break, Plzen will be well rested ahead of the trip to San Mames, which could tempt Miroslav Koubek to name an unchanged lineup for Thursday's encounter.
Athletic Bilbao possible starting lineup:
Agirrezabala; De Marcos, Paredes, Vivian, Berchiche; Prados, Jauregizar; I. Williams, Gomez, N. Williams; Guruzeta
Viktoria Plzen possible starting lineup:
Jedlicka; Dweh, Markovic, Jemelka; Cadu, Cerv, Kalvach, Sulc, Havel; Adu, Vydra
We say: Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Viktoria Plzen
Athletic have struggled to produce their best form in the first month of 2025, but they will still take confidence from the fact that they have won all three of their home matches in the league phase, and we think that they will produce another strong performance in front of their own supporters to take maximum points from Thursday's fixture.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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