Aduriz Form Crucial as Athletic Look to Upset Sevilla

Last week in the Europa League, an awful run of form was finally snapped. After 21 attempts in both the league and Europe, Sevilla finally won a game away from home. Unai Emery’s side have routinely impressed in cup competitions, yet were one of the worst performers in Europe on their travels. While they failed to follow up victory at San Mames with a positive result at lowly Valencia, victory at Athletic Club’s expense will have come as a huge relief for Sevilla. 

They are now expected to progress to the next round of the competition in their quest to defend their Europa League crown, particularly in front of a hostile Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Should that be the case, though, Athletic Club will be understandably disappointed if they fail to overcome Sevilla over two legs, though are still in with an outside chance of qualifying. 

Indeed, they’ll once more look to star striker Aduriz to score the necessary goals to upset the odds in Seville. At 35 years of age, the Spain international is seemingly going from strength to strength the older he gets. The experienced frontman has already bagged 17 league goals this term and is in line to better his best return in his last seven league seasons (18) before the campaign draws to a close. 

However before returning to league duties at Malaga at the weekend, he first needs to fire Athletic to the semi finals of the Europa League. That, though, will be easier said than done. Los Leones haven’t won at the Pizjuan since 2011 and have routinely struggled to get the better of Sevilla in the past. With Aduriz leading the attack, however, Athletic always have a chance of progression. 

Aduriz has scored more Europa League goals (9) than any other player this season. The striker has scored three goals in his last five outings in the competition and will hope to continue his good goalscoring form to help Athletic to the next round of the Europe’s second tournament. His impressive outings in the Europa League have helped return a WhoScored rating of 7.86, the fourth best this season. 

It’s all the more commendable with his form improving as he matures. His nine goals in the Europa League this season is easily better than his last four campaigns in Europe combined (5), with his conversion rate a superb 31%. While Zlatan Ibrahimovic has earned the plaudits for his impressive performances despite his age, Aduriz is another front man who continues to excel on the Athletic attack line. Indeed, he will need to call on all his goalscoring expertise to find a way past this Sevilla defence. 

A surprise home defeat to Real Sociedad last time out was their first at home in all competitions since November, when they fell to a 3-1 loss to Champions League semi-finalists Manchester City. They won the subsequent 17 competitive outings in front of their own fans, conceding just six goals in that time prior to the surprise 2-1 loss to La Real. 

Thursday night will be the opportune time for Aduriz to exhibit his statistically calculated WhoScored strength of ‘finishing’ if Athletic are to upset the odds at the Pizjuan. Not only is he the Europa League’s top goalscorer, but no player has scored more clear-cut goalscoring opportunities in the competition this season than Aduriz (5). 

Having fired away just 17 shots on target in his 10 Europa League appearances, his on-target conversion rate (52.9%) highlights just how prolific he is when the chances are created for him. However, opportunities could be few and far between for the Basque outfit, who are averaging just eight key passes per Europa League game away from home this season. Injury to Inaki Williams further hinders Athletic’s chances of overcoming the odds to defeat Sevilla, particularly with Emery’s side conceding just seven shots per home Europa League game this term, one of the best returns. 

In Aduriz though, Athletic have one of Europe’s unheralded frontmen. While it’s a tough ask for the club to get the better of their La Liga counterparts in European competition, the Spaniard has the goalscoring quality to put the Sevilla defence to the sword. Ernesto Valverde’s men will look to their talismanic frontman as he looks to add to his nine goals in the Europa League this season and dump the cup holders out of the competition at the quarter-final stage on Thursday night.

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