Athletic Bilbao Vs. Real Madrid: Lineups

As usual, Athletic Bilbao’s lineup features hard workers and tough tacklers. Real Madrid might have more in the way of overall quality, but Athletic’s combination of grit and a decent amount of skill, along with the difficulty of a trip to San Mames, will certainly make things hard on Los Blancos. There’s a small degree of ambiguity in Bilbao’s lineup, but we should be able to figure out what the formation of their team is very shortly. It’s listed as both a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3, based on where you look, and it’s easy to see how it could be either. Madrid’s lineup looks odd too, and they could be playing with Pepe as a defensive midfielder, or with a three man back line.

Athletic Bilbao lineup (projected 4-4-2): Iraizoz; Iraola, San Jose, Castillo, Ekiza; Muniain, Martinez, Orbaiz, Gurpegui; Toquero, Llorente

Real Madrid lineup (projected 4-2-3-1): Casillas; Arbeloa, Garay, Albiol, Ramos; Pepe, Lass; Di Maria, Kaka, Granero; Higuain

If you’re in the United States, you can catch the game on ESPN3.com