Athletic Bilbao v Rangers: Star player could miss out in major injury blow
Rangers face their biggest game of the season as they travel to the Basque country to face Athletic Bilbao.
Barry Ferguson’s side have endured a miserable domestic campaign, but are in the Europa League quarter-finals and have an outside shot of European glory.
La Liga giants Athletic Bilbao drew 0-0 at Ibrox despite Rangers going down to 10 men, and it is all to play for in the second leg of their quarter-final clash at San Mames on Thursday (17 April).
Athletic Club have been performing well in La Liga, and are fourth in the table following their victory over Rayo Vallecano, but this win may have come at a cost.
Inaki Williams an injury doubt for Athletic Bilbao v Rangers
Ahead of the Europa League clash in Bilbao, Athletic Club manager Ernesto Valverde has now revealed that key attacker Inaki Williams is a doubt for the match.
Williams came off injured against Rayo at the weekend, and the Ghanaian may now miss the Rangers game in a huge blow for the home side.
“We’ll have to wait and see. It’s true that he had a slight discomfort and I didn’t want him to continue just in case,” Valverde told reporters at San Mames.
| Stat | Inaki Williams |
| Appearances | 44 |
| Goals | 10 |
| Assists | 9 |
“We had to avoid a dangerous situation, so I decided to tell him to leave the pitch without a substitute to replace him.
“If you’re on the pitch, there’s always a chance that you make a run and the problem can be bigger.”
Williams absence would be huge blow for Athletic Club v Rangers
Although he is not currently performing at his best level, losing Williams to injury would be a huge blow for Athletic Club, and would give Rangers a boost.
Williams has scored 10 goals this season playing across the front three, and as one of the most experienced attackers in their squad, losing his leadership would certainly affect the Basque side.
Inaki’s brother Nico Williams is likely to play though, and is ready to cause danger after scoring an outstanding goal against Rayo last time out.
With Oihan Sancet also returning to scoring form, it is likely that winger Alex Berenguer or centre-forward Gorka Guruzeta will replace Williams if he is unavailable against Rangers.