Atletico de Madrid receives the visit of a resurgent Athletic de Bilbao

The beginning of their season was disappointing, but at the hand of Mané, Atheltic de Bilbao has straightened their wayward path. They arrive at Vicente Calderon Stadium as a historic team that has caught a breath of fresh air in the past few weeks, and has been able to crawl out of the well at the bottom of the table little-by-little. The Atletico-Athletic match, one of the classics of the Spanish league, has been disputed 69 times, with 40 victories for Atletico and 16 for the Lions; on 13 occasions the two teams have finished in a draw. In these matches Atletico has scored 131 goals, while Basque squad has put in 76. In the first round of League play, Javier Aguirre´ team had a walk in the park in San Mames, where they blew out Athletic with a convincing 1-4. Injured wingers Maxi and Petrov opened the scoring, Aguero debuted in the scoring column in Spain and Galletti finished things off from the penalty spot. Javi Martinez scored the goal for the team managed by Félix Sarriugarte. Last season Atletico beat Athletic de Bilbao at home in Vicente Calderon thanks to a solitary goal scored by Fernando Torres in the waning moments of the match.