Hertha Berlin vs Athletic Bilbao Preview

Hertha Berlin and Athletic Bilbao face eachother in what should be the toughest group game for both teams in the group.

The duo have been placed in group J alongside Ukrainian Zorya and Ostersunds from Sweden and they are both expected to finish as the top two teams in the group.

Hertha finished last season in 6^th position mainly due to their excellent home form and they will be hoping to take that form into this season’s Europa League.

The Germans have a very good record when they play in the Europa League with records showing they have won at least 49% of their last 74 matches.

They will be hoping to take that run further when they face Athletic club here.

Bilbao are currently on top form as the Spaniards are unbeaten in their last 6 matches.

However, they failed to win any of their away games in the group stages of this competition last season losing two and picking up only one point away to Rapid Wien.

This season has started brightly for some of their stars like Aduritz who has already netted 3 goals in Europa League qualifying and 2 in La Liga while Australian midfielder Leckie has netted 3 goals in 3 league games so far.

This game is most likely going to be very tight but home advantage could play a key role here.

Both teams will more than likely settle for a draw knowing that the other two teams in their group should be much easier opponents.

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

Hertha Berlin

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
L	Borussia Dortmund		2-0		Hertha Berlin	Aug 26, 2017	German Bundesliga
W	Hertha Berlin		2-0		VfB Stuttgart	Aug 19, 2017	German Bundesliga
W	Hansa Rostock		0-2		Hertha Berlin	Aug 14, 2017	German DFB Pokal
L	Hertha Berlin		0-3		Liverpool	Jul 29, 2017	Friendly
L	Hertha Berlin		2-6		Bayer Leverkusen	May 20, 2017	German Bundesliga

 Athletic Bilbao

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
W	Eibar		0-1		Athletic Bilbao	Aug 27, 2017	Spanish Primera División
W	Athletic Bilbao		1-0		Panathinaikos	Aug 24, 2017	Europa League
D	Athletic Bilbao		0-0		Getafe	Aug 20, 2017	Spanish Primera División
W	Panathinaikos		2-3		Athletic Bilbao	Aug 17, 2017	Europa League
L	Liverpool		3-1		Athletic Bilbao	Aug 5, 2017	Friendly