Athletic Bilbao faces Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final. The match will be played on Saturday, April 17th at Estadio de La Cartuja (Sevilla)
Athletic has significantly slowed down lately. Firstly, the team has not managed to win six consecutive matches in all tournaments. Secondly, goal-scoring performance has dropped dramatically. Thirdly, the team from Bilbao missed the chance to win the trophy. In the final of the last season’s Copa del Rey, Marcelino's charges lost to Real Sociedad with a minimal 0-1 score. Fatigue also affected the results in the Spanish championship. Athletic Bilbao won its last victory in LaLiga a month ago, and last weekend the Lions failed to beat the outsider Alaves at home (0-0). The only thing that can please the head coach is the absence of injured players before another final.
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Barcelona left the Champions League, but the team continues to fight for two trophies - the Spanish Cup and Primera. The Catalans will approach the upcoming final in a bad mood. At the weekend, the team lost to Real Madrid in El Clasico (2-1). After that match, many talked about bad refereeing, but the fact remains - Ronald Koeman lost to the Whites for the second time in the current season. That misfire pushed the Catalans to the third place in the LaLiga standings. However, the fight for the champion’s title continues. We will also add that the 9-match unbeaten run of Barcelona was interrupted at the weekend. If the opponent has no losses before the upcoming final, then Koeman cannot count on two performers - Fati and Coutinho.
As we have noted more than once, Athletic Bilbao is a tough, daring, uncompromising, and unyielding opponent. Barcelona tends to have problems when it faces the Lions. Head-to-head matches are the confirmation of this statement. The last time the Catalans beat the Basques with a 2-goal difference was in 2018. After that, eight more matches were played. The results are as follows: two wins for Athletic Bilbao (1-0), three draws, and three wins for Barça with a margin of only one goal. In the end, we will recall that at the beginning of January 2021, the teams met in the Spanish Super Cup final. Then the regulation time ended with a score of 2-2, and the Lions snatched the victory and took the trophy in extra time. As you can see, the statistics are not in favor of the Catalans. And this trend is likely to continue.
Prediction for the match: Athletic Bilbao to win with +1.5 handicap
