Rapid Wien vs Athletic Bilbao: Preview and Prediction

Rapid Vienna vs Athletic Club
UEFA Europa League
Date: Thursday 8th December, 2016
Kick-off: 18:00 UK
Venue: Allianz Stadion, Vienna.

The match in Vienna will have a greater importance for Athletic Club, who will be looking to snatch the victory and hope for Genk’s failure in Italy to secure the first position in the group F and easier opponent in the last 32 round of the competition.

Ernesto Valverde’s men are looking quite impressive at the moment, especially up front where Aduriz and Raul Garcia have been super inspired in the latest games. Athletic will be travelling to Allianz Stadion after a comfortable 3-1 win over Eibar on Sunday evening when Benat, Inaki Williams and Iker Muniain were all on target.

Aritz Aduris, who scored five goals against Genk in the 4th round of the competition, is expected to start the match after he skipped the victory over Eibar over the weekend. You can back him to score anytime against Rapid at 11/10.

Rapid are not enjoying their best days in Austrian Bundesliga. They are currently sitting at the 5th position. Damir Canadi took charge of the team in mid November as he had the toughest possible debut in the away defeat to Salzburg. Rapid then suffered back-to-back losses to Genk and Sturm Graz before Canadi managed to take his first point against Mattersburg two weeks ago. The weekend’s saw his first win on Rapid’s bench, as Rapid were better than St. Polten with 1-0 on home ground.

Rapid Wien vs Athletic Bilbao: Head-to-Head Stats

Athletic Bilbao have claimed a narrow win in the only game the teams played between each other so far, back in the last week of September when Benat made the difference netting the only goal just before the hour-mark.

Rapid Wien vs Athletic Bilbao: Prediction

We’ll go with the away win as the number one betting pick because Athletic are looking much better in the recent matches and because they will surely be more motivated to grab three points. Alternatively, you can obviously back Aduriz to score anytime at 11/10.