Three consecutive away derbies for Athletic Club

Starting this weekend, Athletic Club’s next three away fixtures in LaLiga Santander will be Basque derbies.

First up, Gaizka Garitano’s squad faces SD Eibar in Ipurua on Sunday. Afterwards, matchday five sees the lions take on Deportivo Alavés in Mendizorroza and finally there is a trip to El Sadar and CA Osasuna on matchday seven.

We take a look at some of the lions’ past encounters against these three teams.

SD Eibar

Athletic Club have not tasted defeat in their last four visits to Ipurua, with two wins and two draws. The sides drew 2-2 in their most recent LaLiga clash, forwards Raúl García and Asier Villalibre scoring for Athletic.

What’s more, the lions have been to Ipurua six times since SD Eibar were promoted to LaLiga Santander, keeping clean sheets on three of those occasions. At the moment, Athletic’s LaLiga Santander record in Ipurua stands at three wins, two draws and one defeat.

Deportivo Alavés

Athletic head to Vitoria-Gasteiz and Mendizorroza on matchday five. Coincidentally, it was on matchday five last season that goals from Raúl Garcia and playmaker Iker Muniain saw Athletic Club beat Alavés 2-0. Since Alavés were promoted to LaLiga Santander for the first time, away days in Mendizorroza have always presented a tough challenge for Athletic.

CA Osasuna

The lions are unbeaten in their last four matches in El Sadar. In fact in 2019-20, a 1-2 Athletic victory ended Osasuna’s 31-game streak without a home loss.

Curiously, Athletic had to play three consecutive Basque derbies last season too, taking on Real Sociedad, CA Osasuna and Alavés on matchdays 23, 24 and 25.