Athletic Club Prepares for Champions League Match Against Slavia Prague

Athletic Club will travel to Prague this Monday afternoon to compete against Slavia in their upcoming Champions League match. The team, having secured only one victory thus far in the competition, will depart via charter flight from Loiu Airport at 3 PM. Following their arrival, coach Ernesto Valverde and player Guruzeta will hold an official press conference at the Fortuna Arena at 7 PM.

Valverde has called up 23 players for the match, including Nico Williams, who is following a specialized training regimen to alleviate ongoing pubalgia issues. The younger Williams started in Saturday’s match against FC Barcelona but did not finish the game. It is likely that Valverde will employ a similar strategy with Nico in this match as he did in previous games against Oviedo and Barcelona. Nico is set to face a familiar opponent, having scored against Slavia last season in the group stage of the Europa League, where Athletic ultimately reached the semifinals before being eliminated by Manchester United.

Prior to their departure, Athletic Club announced that Nico Serrano will not make the trip due to a hamstring strain. The Navarre-born player will remain in Lezama for recovery. Other absentees for the European fixture include Izeta, who is not registered for the competition and does not factor into the domestic league, along with injured players Iñaki Williams, Maroan, Prados, and Egiluz, and suspended player Yeray.

In preparation for the match, Valverde has included Hierro, a center forward from Bilbao Athletic who has previously seen minutes against Newcastle, and has retained Selton, another debutant who continued in the match against Oviedo. Upon their return from Prague, the team will have a day of rest before engaging in two training sessions in preparation for their upcoming away match in the league against Levante.