Off-colour Athletic Bilbao bid to rediscover their mojo

THE hangover from their surprise elimination of Manchester United in the last round is threatening to jeopardise Athletic Bilbao’s hopes of winning the Europa League, as the Spanish club prepare to face Schalke tonight in the first leg of the quarter-finals.

Athletic attracted comparisons with the mighty Barcelona by producing two legs of mesmerising football to oust Sir Alex Ferguson’s men earlier this month, but they haven’t won in four La Liga games since.

Fatigue seems to have caught up with Bilbao, one of the hardest-working teams in Europe, and their thin bench has also finally been exposed, just when qualification for the Champions League through a top-four finish in La Liga seemed possible.

Spain striker Fernando Llorente doesn’t look fully fit from the left leg injury he sustained in the second-leg match against United, while midfielder David Lopez is a doubt after injuring his right ankle in training on Monday.

“If we play the type of game we know how to play, we’ve got a chance of getting a good result and then, back here at the San Mames, of going through,” midfielder Markel Susaeta said.

Schalke, meanwhile, are third in the Bundesliga after three straight wins and can call on a strikeforce that contains Netherlands international Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the Europa League’s top scorer with nine goals, and former Spain forward Raul Gonzalez. The German side beat Steve McClaren’s FC Twente in the last 16.

Elsewhere tonight, Atletico Madrid, the 2010 winners, host Hannover in the first leg of their quarter-final while Valencia – the third Spanish team through to the last eight – travel to AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands.

Sporting Lisbon’s reward for ousting City is a two-legged match against Ukraine’s Metalist Kharkiv, the biggest outsiders among the remaining teams.