Real Madrid will continue their La Liga title defence when they travel to San Mames for Wednesday's tricky test against Athletic Bilbao.
Los Blancos bounced back from their Champions League loss against Liverpool to clinch a 2-0 victory in Sunday's home league meeting with Getafe thanks to goals from Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe.
Real Madrid finished the weekend just one point adrift of leaders Barcelona with a game in hand, while Athletic Bilbao ended matchday 15 in fourth spot after they came from a goal down to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 at Vallecas.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two sides.
Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 242
Athletic Bilbao wins: 76
Draws: 45
Real Madrid wins: 121
Real Madrid boast a favourable record in this fixture, but Athletic have enjoyed their fair share of success in meetings with Los Blancos, having claimed 76 victories in 242 matches between two of the biggest sides in Spain.
However, Athletic have found wins hard to come by in recent encounters, with their previous nine competitive meetings producing one win, one draw and seven defeats.
Their only victory in that run of games took place in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals in February 2022 when Alex Berenguer came off the bench to knock Real Madrid out of the cup.
Los Blancos may have experienced disappointment on that occasion, but they have managed to avoid defeat in each of their previous 18 La Liga matches against Los Leones, including a couple of 2-0 victories in the 2023-24 campaign.
Bellingham scored his first Real Madrid goal in an opening day win in August 2023, before Rodrygo netted a brace to fire Real Madrid to all three points when the two sides last faced off at the Santiago Bernabeu in March.
While San Mames has a reputation for being a tough place to visit, Real Madrid have enjoyed success on their recent trips to Athletic's cathedral, having won each of their five head-to-head away meetings in La Liga.
In fact, Los Blancos have avoided defeat in each of their previous nine away league games against Athletic since they fell to a 1-0 defeat in March 2015 when Valverde was in his first spell as Los Leones boss and Carlo Ancelotti was in his first stint as Real Madrid manager.
Real Madrid have done an impressive job of negating Athletic's attacking threat in recent away encounters, keeping clean sheets in five of their last seven visits to San Mames in the league.
Previous meetings
Mar 31, 2024: Real Madrid 2-0 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Aug 12, 2023: Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Jun 04, 2023: Real Madrid 1-1 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Jan 22, 2023: Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Feb 03, 2022: Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Real Madrid (Copa del Rey Quarter-Finals)
Jan 16, 2022: Real Madrid 0-2 Athletic Bilbao (Supercopa de Espana Final)
Dec 22, 2021: Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Dec 01, 2021: Real Madrid 1-0 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
May 16, 2021: Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Jan 14, 2021: Real Madrid 1-2 Athletic Bilbao (Supercopa de Espana Semi-Finals)
Dec 15, 2020: Real Madrid 3-1 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Jul 05, 2020: Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Dec 22, 2019: Real Madrid 0-0 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Apr 21, 2019: Real Madrid 3-0 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Sep 15, 2018: Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Apr 18, 2018: Real Madrid 1-1 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Dec 02, 2017: Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Mar 18, 2017: Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Oct 23, 2016: Real Madrid 2-1 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Feb 13, 2016: Real Madrid 4-2 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Last 10 La Liga meetings
Mar 31, 2024: Real Madrid 2-0 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Aug 12, 2023: Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Jun 04, 2023: Real Madrid 1-1 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Jan 22, 2023: Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Dec 22, 2021: Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Dec 01, 2021: Real Madrid 1-0 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
May 16, 2021: Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Dec 15, 2020: Real Madrid 3-1 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Jul 05, 2020: Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Dec 22, 2019: Real Madrid 0-0 Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
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