Champions League
2025-11-05 - Newcastle United vs Athletic Bilbao
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Champions League
Wednesday 5th November 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Newcastle United
Scoring early against an out of form opponent whose home supporters are on the brink of open revolt should have set Newcastle United on their way on Sunday, but the performance was downright embarrassing in the ninety minutes played at the London Stadium. Manager Eddie Howe did not mince his words in the press conference and the fans will be demanding so much better from the team when Newcastle United play their latest Champions League fixture.
Domestic form has been disappointing, but Newcastle United are 8th in the Champions League table and the minimum expectation is that they can play in the Knock Out Rounds in February. They have bounced back from a home loss to Barcelona to beat both Union Saint-Gilloise and Benfica and another three points would go a long way to securing a top twenty-four spot at the very least.
Newcastle United had won 3 in a row before taking the early lead at West Ham United on Sunday, but failed to kick on in the 3-1 defeat. All of those wins had been at St James' Park where Newcastle United have won 6 of 9 games played this season with the exceptions being defeats to Barcelona, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Kieran Trippier is hoping to overcome an illness to take part. Eddie Howe rang the changes at half time on Sunday to show his displeasure with the performance, although later admitted Anthony Gordon's withdrawal was partly down to a slight injury issue.
Athletic Bilbao
They reached the Semi Final in the Europa League last season, but the step up to the Champions League is always going to be a significant challenge. It is one where Athletic Bilbao may feel getting into the Knock Out Rounds is a solid achievement and anything beyond that would be surpassing expectations at this level.
The fixture list has not been very kind early in the Champions League with Athletic Bilbao losing to Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund. However, they did beat Qarabag on Match Day 3 to move up into 21st place in the League table and Athletic Bilbao will be hoping to build upon that as they look for more overall consistency at home and in Europe.
Athletic Bilbao were beaten in the Basque derby by Real Sociedad this past weekend and they have lost 7 of their last 11 games in all competitions since the September international break. The away form has been really concerning and Athletic Bilbao have lost 4 of their last 5 games played on their travels.
Head to Head
These two clubs met in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup and it was Athletic Bilbao who won on away goals.
The fixture at St James' Park had ended 3-2 to Newcastle United in the First Leg, but it was Athletic Bilbao who won 1-0 when hosting two weeks later.
Prediction
If this Champions League game could be switched, you would also likely have to switch the odds and that just underlines the vastly different levels of performance both Newcastle United and Athletic Bilbao have produced depending on whether they are playing at home or not.
It is the English Premier League club who will be hosting and Newcastle United have won 4 in a row at St James' Park.
At the same time Athletic Bilbao have not won any of 5 away games in all competitions and they have lost 4 of those, while conceding far too many goals and so the expectation is that the home team will secure three points.
Newcastle United were really poor against West Ham United, which has continued their Jekyll and Hyde start to the season.
All of the good has been at home and you have to believe the players will be ready to bounce back and prove themselves after the disappointing effort at the London Stadium. Those coming into the eleven will have something to prove and Newcastle United have shown how strong they can be in front of The Toon Army all season.
If they can score first and go in front, Newcastle United should end up playing with the confidence and freedom that took them to a 3-0 win over Benfica on Match Day 3. They will have to respect Athletic Bilbao, who reached the Europa League Semi Final last season, but the visiting team have conceded 10 goals in the last 5 away games played and they were beaten by comfortably at Borussia Dortmund in the only away game played in this Group.
The Magpies will likely need to score twice to secure the win, but they can do that and then put a final gloss on the scoreline late on.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Newcastle United 3-1 Athletic Bilbao
