La Liga: Athletic vs. Levante

Posted on | June 13, 2007 | No Comments

The simple fact of the matter is this. If Athletic Bilbao win here against Levante they will survive another year in the top flight of Spanish football. The problems will begin though, if they fail to do this. Celta are just a point behind them and seem to have found their lost form. They have won their last two games and could be in with a shout. Real Sociedad are below Celta and three points from arch rivals Athletic, although in the event of a tie on points Athletic will stay up because of individual goal difference and Betis would go down if they don’t win their game against Racing de Santander.
Luckily for Athletic, their last four wins have all been at home, and with Levante already safe from relegation, one would assume this will be a match that the home team should be able to win. On the down side, Levante are playing some great football at the moment, having won four out of their last five matches and will want to finish the season on a winning note. Add to this the infamous ‘money suitcases’ that are rumoured to have been offered to teams as an incentive to win by other clubs, then the result might not be so easy to predict. I believe that now is the time for Athletic to taste the football of the second division for the first time in their long history. I can’t see them beating a strong Levante side that walked all over a slack Valencia last weekend by beating them four goals to two, and that has some great players including the up and coming Riga. Athletic’s policy of only buying players from the Basque country is starting a show, unfortunately. It is very commendable but in today’s modern game you can’t stick to your traditions and enjoy top flight football.
I’m going for an away win here today, and I can also see Athletic Bilbao going down. They haven’t played much football all season and I doubt whether they have the strength to start now.
Prediction: Away win (1-3)

Related posts:

1. La Liga: Athletic Bilbao vs. Levante
2. La Liga: Levante vs. Racing de Santander
3. La Liga: Racing vs. Levante
4. La Liga: Athletico Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao
5. La Liga: Almeria vs. Levante

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