Spartak Moscow and Athletic Club meet at Otkrytiye Arena, in a match for this phase of the UEFA Europa League (16th Finals). These two teams have never faced each other before, so this will be their first direct confrontation.

The home team will make its debut in this edition of the UEFA Europa League with the intention of conquering a positive result, taking advantage of the home factor. In their last match, for the Friendlies, they beat Sparta Praha by (1-2). In the last 10 home matches Spartak Moscow has won 6, tied 2 and lost 2. The team has conceded goals in 7 of the last 10 matches, so their defense needs to improve, but their attack has scored regularly, since they have scored goals in 7 of the last 10 matches.

Spartak Moscow enters the field for its first official match in the year 2018, since the four matches it played so far were friendly, of which it lost two, beat one and tied another. The Russian club reaches the Europa League after failing to qualify in the UEFA Champions League, finishing in third place in Group E, which had Liverpool and Sevilla as classified. In the Russian Championship, which restarts at the beginning of March, the team continues to make a good campaign, occupying the third position, with the same number of points as the classified. The 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 have been the main tactical schemes used by the coach Carrera, which will probably have Promes as a reference in the offensive sector.

The visiting team got access to this phase of the UEFA Europa League (16th Finals) after the 1st place won in Group J, with a total of 11 points. The team comes to this match after a draw at home with Las Palmas by (0-0). In the last 5 away matches for the UEFA Europa League, Athletic Club won 2 and drew 3.

For this competition, they have not lost any of the last 5 away matches. Their attack has scored regularly, since they have scored goals in 8 of the last 10 matches for this competition.

Athletic Bilbao makes this their eighth match this year, which will be the first of 2018 for the Europa League, needing to improve their performance to try to surprise the Russians and build an advantage for the return game. The visiting team is not going through a good phase, considering that, considering all the competitions they are competing, they have not won for six matches, since their last victory was still in the first week of January, for the Spanish league , in which currently occupies the thirteenth position. However, managed to qualify as the leader of Group J in the Europa League, although tied in number of points with the Östersunds FK. The 4-2-3-1 has been the tactical formation used by coach Ziganda, which should keep Aduriz as a reference in the attack.

PREDICTION: Under 2.5 goals @ 1.78