Schalke vs Bilbao

Schalke is coming from a great, four matches winning run that pushed them to third position in Bundesliga with two points more than their closest rivals Monchengladbach, but also to Europa League quarterfinals. In previous round they were better than Twente by 4:1 at home, although they lost the first leg in Holland with a narrow 0:1 result. The Germans know that they must, or at least should, win this match in order to increase their chances of passing to the semifinals as the Basque team is playing really well in front of their own fans. As said, they are doing quite well at the moment, most important for them – they are scoring a lot. Recent four victories included 2:0 win over Leverkusen, mentioned victory over Twente, but also 4:1 win on the road against K’lautern and home 3:1 win over Hamburg. German side has no fresh injury worries.

 

Athletic Bilbao, on the other side, is having probably the best season in many years. They are already in the finals of Spanish Copa del Rey (meaning that they have already secured playing at European stage next season too), but also have additionally progressed to Europa League quarterfinals. Still, their form haven’t been really great form after they have eliminated (surprisingly, of course) Manchester United in previous round. After these two very famous victories, they lost at home against Valencia 0:3, but have also lost to Atletico Madrid 1:2 on the road and most worrying, failed to win last weekend over Gijon managing only 1:1 draw at home. Coach of Spanish side, Marcelo Bielsa is without injured David Lopez, Aitor Ocio, Carlos Gurpegi, Xabi Castillo and Igor Martmnez, who all didn’t went on the trip to Germany.

 

The Germans know that they must attack in first match already, having in mind that Bilbao is not in their best form right now, but they are still very dangerous on counter-attacks and that Huntelaar and Raul are in good form, over 2.5 goals seems like a logical bet.

 

Bet: Over 2.5 goals @1.70 with Bet365