• Written by Steven Harrison
• Categories Football, Spain La Liga

Athletic Bilbao prepares to welcome Real Madrid to the San Mamés Barria on Saturday and although it is still early on in the season, the match is one where both side desperately needs all three points from.Watch live stream Athletic v Real Madrid football match online.

How to Watch Athletic Bilbao v Real Madrid live stream (step-by-step guide)

Athletic Bilbao News
Athletic Bilbao managed a respectable 7th placed finish in La Liga last season but the achievement somewhat proved to be a bitter pill for the club at the end as they lost influential manager Ernesto Valverde to Barcelona over the summer.

José Ángel Ziganda was appointed as the man to replace Valverde and it has to be said that the 51-year-old has not been able to win over the San Mames faithful as of yet.Athletic are currently languishing in 16th position in the La Liga table, have been less than impressive in the Europa League and to make matters worse, they suffered a humiliating home defeat at the hands of minnows Formentera in the Copa Del Rey in midweek.

As a result of such a poor start in all competitions, Ziganda already finds himself under a bit of pressure and while a good result against defending champions Real Madrid this weekend will alleviate a lot of anxiety within the club, a heavy defeat could just exacerbate what is already a difficult position for their manager.

Oscar De Marcos, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Iker Undabarrene, Iker Muniain and Benat Etxebarria are the injury concerns ahead of the game while Aymeric Laporte will be unable to feature due to suspension.

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Real Madrid News
Considering all the turbulence Barcelona suffered over the summer, it was widely tipped that defending Spanish and European champions Real Madrid would romp their way to the La Liga title in comfortable fashion this season but that has not proven to be the case so far.

Madrid has uncharacteristically stuttered during the current campaign and currently find themselves in an unfamiliar 4th position in the table after 13 matches, already a sizeable 8 points off of pacesetters Barcelona.

While it would be premature to rule out Madrid’s chance of overhauling Barcelona, one has to acknowledge that Zinedine Zidane’s men now have very little room for error and beating Athletic Bilbao this weekend will be imperative in order to keep their title hopes afloat.

Sergio Ramos, Gareth Bale, Luca Zidane and Marco Asensio are currently struggling with injury concerns ahead of the clash.

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Head to Head
Athletic do not have the best of records against Real Madrid but they did record a fine 1-0 victory over Los Blancos in 2015 and managed a 0-0 draw at home last season.

However, things have dramatically changed for Athletic during the current campaign and Real Madrid will be heading into the clash on Saturday fully confident of improving their already impressive record against the Basque outfit.

Match Expectation
Given their high standards, it is clear to see that Real Madrid is struggling at the moment but their troubles pale in comparison to Athletic dramatic free fall under Ziganda.

Madrid is clearly the overwhelming favorites ahead of the clash and although the defending champions have dropped points against Girona and Atletico Madrid during their last two away matches, they are fully expected to see off Athletic this weekend in a comprehensive fashion.Bilbao v Real an exciting match to watch live.