The tie remains very much open after Sporting recorded a 2-1 victory in the first leg, but Athletic have got to be considered favourites to go through given their impressive showings at San Mames this season.

After struggling to cope with the busy schedule in March, Marcelo Bielsa’s side have shown a lot of improvement over the last few weeks, with ten points from last four La Liga games seeing them get back in contention for Champions League qualification.

Nonetheless, before they can fully focus on their domestic campaign, los Leones need to ensure progression to the Europa League final, which will not be so easy after the 2-1 defeat in Lisbon.

Athletic took the lead in Portugal, but were later completely outplayed by their opponents and even boss Marcelo Bielsa admitted the defeat had been completely deserved.

Even so, we should see a completely different game at San Mames, where Athletic have been thoroughly impressive this term, so no wonder William Hill pays just 1.60 (3/5) on home win.

Influential midfielder Oscar de Marcos misses out through suspension, but Iker Muniain should start despite battling with an eye infection.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Iraizoz – Iraola, Martinez, Amorebieta, Aurtenetxe – Muniain, Iturraspe, Herrera – Susaeta, Llorente, Ibai Gomez.

Sporting Lisbon had a bright start to the season, but the team experienced some problems at the turn of the year.

Nonetheless, Sa Pinto’s side managed to rediscover their form in the best possible time and the team have been playing with a lot of confidence of late.

After doing well to eliminate Manchester City and Metalist Kharkiv, the Lions largely impressed in the first leg against Athletic and deservedly recorded a narrow victory.

Sporting are now expected to have a difficult job at San Mames, but given their run of six wins in last seven games, odds of 2.20 (6/5) offered by Stan James on Sporting to qualify do look tempting.

Marat Izmailov misses out through suspension, but the good news is Matias Fernandez is fit to feature after recovering from a hamstring problem.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-2-1): Patricio – Pereira, Xandao, Polga, Insua – Martins, Carrico, Schaars – Fernandez, Capel – Van Wolfswinkel.