The lowdown on Athletic Club Bilbao

La Liga side Athletic Club Bilbao are next up on Aston Villa’s pre-season schedule.

The Basque side won silverware last season and have a number of Spanish internationals in their ranks.

Ahead of the game at Walsall’s Poundland Bescot Stadium, learn more about our opponents…

The opponent

Athletic Club Bilbao is coming off a momentous season in which they ended a 40-year wait for a major trophy.

Mallorca were overcome in a dramatic penalty shootout following a tight Copa del Rey final in April, sparking wild scenes across the Basque country.

The club is famous for only fielding players of Basque origin, and their current squad includes brothers Iñaki and Nico Williams, Spain No1 Unai Simón and last season’s top scorer Gorka Guruzeta.

Athletic achieved their highest La Liga finish in eight years last term, finishing fifth under the guidance of head coach Ernesto Valverde.

Ones to watch

Iñaki Williams

The elder Williams brother is heading into his 11^th season as a senior professional at Athletic Bilbao, having represented his hometown with distinction thus far.

A product of the academy, the forward has played over 420 games for the club, scoring exactly 100 goals and racking up 57 assists.

Williams can play on the left or through the middle as a central striker but was predominantly deployed as a right winger last season.

He’s coming off a stellar campaign in which he netted 12 times and picked up his first major trophy with the club.

Ander Herrera

A familiar face to Premier League fans, Herrera is in his third spell at Bilbao.

The 34-year-old left the Basque club to join Manchester United in 2014, staying in England for five years and winning four trophies.

Herrera added seven more honours during four years at Paris-Saint Germain, spending the last part of his time in the French capital on loan at Bilbao.

He completed a permanent move to his hometown team last summer and contributed when called upon in central midfield, helping to end the club’s 40-year trophy drought.

Aitor Paredes

Paredes enjoyed a breakout season last term as he became a crucial part of Bilbao’s defence.

The centre-back, who made his senior debut in 2022, missed only four matches in all competitions and formed a strong partnership with Dani Vivian.

At 24-years-old, Paredes has recently passed 50 appearances for the club and will be looking to build on a campaign that saw Atheltic concede the second-fewest goals in La Liga.

Paredes will also be hoping to push for inclusion in the Spain squad and add to the Under-18,-19 and -21 caps he has to his name.

In the dugout

Ernesto Valverde is in his third spell as head coach of Athletic Club Bilbao, a club he also represented for six years as a player.

In his playing days as a striker, the 60-year-old made over 170 appearances for Bilbao and won a single cap for the Spanish national team.

He moved into a coaching role at the club after his retirement and managed Bilbao’s B side before taking over the senior team in 2003.

Another stint at the helm in 2013 followed stays at Espanyol, Olympiacos (twice), Valencia and Villarreal, and he was in charge for four years until Barcelona came calling in 2017.

Valverde picked up two La Liga titles and a Copa del Rey in Catalonia. He returned to Bilbao in 2022 and celebrated his first major silverware with the club when he lifted the Copa del Rey earlier this year.

Ways to watch

Aston Villa fans around the world can watch the match live on VillaTV+.

The match kicks off at 7:30pm.