Chidera Ejuke’s Sevilla vs Athletic Bilbao — Preview, team news, tips & H2H

Edin Terzic will finally take charge of a competitive Athletic Club fixture on Saturday when Sevilla travel to San Mamés, five days before the German coach’s rearranged bow against Barcelona, Afrik-Foot reports.

The Basque club’s opening-weekend meeting with the reigning champions was pushed back to Thursday, August 27 because of the packed international calendar following this summer’s World Cup, so this Sevilla clash serves as Athletic Club’s first league test of the new season.

Luis García Plaza’s side, by contrast, already have three points in the bank after grinding out a come-from-behind win over Rayo Vallecano, and they arrive at La Catedral with a spring in their step that few expected given the turmoil of last season.

Adding a subplot to the occasion is Chidera Ejuke, the Super Eagles winger who spent much of the pre-season on the fringes of the Sevilla squad amid exit talk, only to be pulled back into contention in the days before kick-off.

Sevilla vs Athletic Bilbao preview

Athletic Club’s 2025-26 season unravelled badly, and a defeat at Real Madrid on the final day left Ernesto Valverde’s side down in 12th place with 45 points, a startling comedown for a club that had reached the Champions League league phase and a Europa League semi-final only a year earlier.

The club responded by turning to Edin Terzic, the former Borussia Dortmund coach who led that side to the 2024 Champions League final.

Terzic’s preparation has been complicated by the World Cup, with Aymeric Laporte, Unai Simón and Nico Williams only rejoining full training after Spain’s triumphant run, leaving him with barely two weeks to work with his full squad before the Sevilla game.

Even so, preseason results offered encouragement, with Athletic losing only twice.

Sevilla, meanwhile, head into this one on the back of an opening-weekend league win, having trailed Rayo Vallecano before two second-half penalties, converted by Jon Guridi and Peque Fernández, secured a 2-1 turnaround at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán.

That victory arrived with the Andalusians down to 10 men for most of the second half after Kike Salas saw red.

Both clubs finished in the bottom half of La Liga last term, Sevilla 13th and Athletic Club 12th, and neither has European football to juggle this season, which at least allows both new-look sides to focus solely on climbing the table.

Athletic Bilbao vs Sevilla: Head-to-Head Record

This is the first meeting between the two clubs in the 2026-27 season, so there is no reverse fixture to draw on just yet, though last season’s corresponding game offers the freshest reference point.

Athletic Club won that contest 3-2 at San Mamés on August 17, 2025, with Nico Williams converting a first-half penalty before Maroan Sannadi and Robert Navarro added further goals, as Dodi Lukébakio and Lucien Agoumé replied for a Sevilla side that could not complete a late comeback.

Zooming out, the fixture has been remarkably even across the last 38 competitive meetings between the sides, with Athletic Club winning 19, Sevilla winning 15 and five ending level.

Team News

Ejuke’s summer has been anything but straightforward, with the Nigeria international left out of Sevilla’s preseason trip to the Netherlands and the friendly against Córdoba as the club made him available for a sale that never materialised.

The 28-year-old should be considered an alternative on the flank areas rather than a starter, with Miguel Sierra and Oso favoured after their part in winning and converting the opening-weekend penalties, though a place on the substitutes’ bench looks likely.

García Plaza’s bigger selection headaches are elsewhere in the squad, with Alfon González still working his way back from a preseason muscle injury and Marcão yet to train fully because of a thigh problem, on top of an unresolved future at the club.

Kike Salas will serve a one-match ban after his sending-off, likely handing a start to Nemanja Gudelj alongside Arouna Sangante, who kept his place in defence despite the error that led to Rayo Vallecano’s opener.

¡Good morning! ☀️

📺 Relive the victory in the #SevillaRayo match with the highlights on Sevilla FC+.https://t.co/eaChw3BrzA

— Sevilla FC (@SevillaFC_ENG) August 16, 2026

Athletic Club have their own concerns at the back, with long-term absentee Unai Egiluz still missing and Dani Vivian considered a doubt, leaving Terzic to choose from Aymeric Laporte, Yeray Álvarez and Aitor Paredes for what looks like a back three.

Right-back remains a problem position for the Basques, much as it was last season, with Jesús Areso and academy graduate Hugo Rincón, back after a loan spell at Girona, competing for the role.

Oihan Sancet, Álex Berenguer, Iñaki Williams and Nico Williams are all in contention further up the field, and preseason sessions have pointed to an attacking approach built around the front four.

Star player watch: Nico Williams vs Peque Fernández

The Managers: Edin Terzic vs Luis García Plaza

Terzic arrives with a reputation built at Borussia Dortmund, where he won the DFB-Pokal during an interim spell in 2021 before returning on a permanent basis and leading the club to the 2024 Champions League final, a run ended by a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid at Wembley.

He left Dortmund by mutual consent shortly after that final and spent time working in television before agreeing a two-year deal at San Mamés in May, with club president Jon Uriarte describing the appointment as a dream solution to end Ernesto Valverde’s third and final spell in charge.

At his official unveiling, Terzic said that protecting the passion and identity of what he called a unique club was his most important task.

García Plaza, by contrast, is a well-travelled Spanish coach whose managerial career has taken in Levante, Getafe, Villarreal, Mallorca and Alavés among others, and he stepped into a relegation fight at Sevilla in March after Matías Almeyda was dismissed, with the club just three points above the drop zone.

He steered Sevilla to 13th place and safety before earning a new deal, and after his side’s opening-weekend fightback, he pointed to the second-half shift to a 4-1-4-1 as the moment his players grew into the contest.

The two coaches have never previously faced one another, so this will be the first chapter in what could become a recurring managerial duel if both stay in their posts.

Tactical Preview

Terzic has spent preseason working on a back three, with Aymeric Laporte pushed straight into the group after his World Cup exertions with Spain, flanked by wing-backs who are asked to provide most of the width while a double pivot screens the back line.

That structure leaves Nico Williams, Iñaki Williams and Oihan Sancet freedom to rotate across the front line, and the early signs from training suggest Terzic wants his side to commit numbers forward quickly, which could leave gaps behind the wing-backs for Sevilla’s wide players to exploit on the counter.

García Plaza’s switch to a 4-1-4-1 already looked like an upgrade on the 4-2-3-1 he started matchday one with, giving Sevilla better control through Lucien Agoumé as a lone pivot while Peque and the front four look to combine in tighter areas.

The visitors have shown they can struggle to play out from the back under pressure, an issue that will be tested severely against a home side whose new coach built his reputation at Dortmund on well-organised pressing triggers in the middle.

Sevilla’s makeshift central defence, missing the suspended Kike Salas and still without the injured Marcão, is the most obvious weak point for Athletic Club’s front four to target in behind.

Athletic Bilbao vs Sevilla: Betting Tips and Predictions

Score Prediction