Double-header friendly against Liverpool FC at Anfield on 4 August

Athletic Club will face Liverpool FC at Anfield on Monday, 4 August. This is the second confirmed fixture of the summer, following the match against PSV Eindhoven on 26 July.

Both clubs have agreed to play two consecutive 90-minute matches, meaning the trip to Liverpool will be a good test for the entire squad as Ernesto Valverde will be able to field different line-ups for each encounter.

The first match will kick-off at 17:00 BST local time (18:00 CEST) and the second at 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST). 

Information about how to purchase tickets will be announced in the near future.

The Reds are the reigning Premier League champions after dominating the 2024/25 season from start to finish under Dutch coach Arne Slot.

They won the title with 84 points, ten more than nearest challengers Arsenal. Liverpool also finished top of the Champions League group stage, although they were knocked out in the last 16 to eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain.

The Reds boast world stars such as Mo Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Luis Diaz, and other important players like Andrew Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gapko and Allison Becker.

Even though they lost Trent Alexander-Arnold, they have immediately replaced the right-back with the versatile former Bayer Leverkusen player Jeremie Frimpong. Furthermore, they have also signed goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, who joined last summer from Valencia CF, but remained on loan at the LaLiga outfit for the 2024/25 campaign.

In terms of head-to-heads, Athletic have only managed one victory over the Liverpudlians in an official competition. That was in the 1968/69 Inter Cities Fairs Cup First Round. In the first leg, the Lions won 2-1 at San Mames thanks to goals from Nicolas Estefano and Javier Ormaza, while Roger Hunt scored for the visitors. Jose Maria Argoitia gave Athletic an early lead in the second leg, but late strikes from Chris Lawler and Emlyn Hughes saw Liverpool level the aggregate scores. Curiously, the Zurigorri when through to the next round after winning a post-match coin toss.

The two sides met again in the 1983/84 Champions League Round of 16. The first leg at Anfield ended in a goalless draw, while in the second leg Liverpool beat Athletic 1-0 with a goal from Ian Rush.

The match on 4 August will be the third friendly between Athletic Club and Liverpool. The first was before the 2017/18 season, at the Aviva Stadium in Ireland, where the English side beat the Lions 3-1. In 2021/22, the Zurigorri, then led by Marcelino, played out a 1-1 draw against Jurgen Kopp's Reds at Anfield.