En route to London for the Premier League International Cup
En route to London for the Premier League International Cup
The squad made its way to the English capital on Tuesday evening ahead of the match against Crystal Palace
Athletic Club's Under-21 team left for London on Tuesday evening in advance of Wednesday's Premier League International Cup opener with Crystal Palace at the VBS Community Stadium in Sutton (Palace TV, kick-off at 20:00 CEST/19:00 BST).
The 18 players called up for the fixture trained together at Lezama on Tuesday morning.
Carlos Gurpegui's side, essentially a combination of Bilbao Athletic and Basconia, are drawn in Group C alongside seven other clubs, including four English teams (Liverpool, Everton, Fulham and Crystal Palace), and three other European outfits (Benfica, Feyenoord and AS Monaco). Athletic will only face English clubs at this stage.
With the date of the match against Liverpool still to be finalised, Athletic will play Everton on Wednesday 25 October and Fulham on 20 December.
The top two sides from the three groups will qualify for the quarter-final along with the two best third-placed teams. The tournament, which Athletic have participated in before, offers valuable experience for our academy players.