Copa del Rey: Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona Preview, Odds, Prediction

Copa del Rey finals are back again, only this time we have Athletic Bilbao facing Barcelona. Due to various obligations and the COVID-19 pandemic, we will see two Spanish Cup finals in the span of three weeks, and to be honest, this is something we’ve never encountered before. But that won’t decrease or diminish the significance of this event. Athletic suffered a loss in the previous trophy-match, and they are in terrible shape, while on the other side, Barca seems shaky and has lots of problems. Still, Blaugrana posted better results in the past few weeks than tonight’s rivals, which is why they come in this event as absolute favorites.

Preview

Athletic Bilbao (+400) didn’t win in the past six games, posting two losses and four draws in all those events. We need to mention that all of these games saw under 2.5 goals, and that just one in the previous 10 competitive games Bilbao played across all competitions concluded with above that margin.

On April 3, Bilbao narrowly lost to Real Sociedad in Copa del Rey finals, missing a massive opportunity to lift the second piece of silverware this year, after winning Supercopa Espana. Bilbao has 23 CDR titles, but the last one was in 1984, once they won the Double.

They are a hard-working side, not that talented but very well organized and tactically endowed. However, it seems that the Basques lost the rhythm since early March and that they can’t get back on the winning track.

Barcelona (-160) was just recovering from a nasty elimination from the UEFA Champions League once they received a hard slap in the face in El Clasico. Real was better, 2-1, pretty much crushing Blaugrana’s championship hopes.

That defeat against Los Blancos was the first one after nine games, from which Barca won seven and two ended without winners. Ronald Koeman is under a great deal of pressure, and the Dutchman who came to Catalonia with high hopes has numerous issues.

Barcelona’s defense is unstable, while on the other side, the chemistry upfront is gone, and all the goals scored are a product of an individual quality, not teamwork. It is something unusual for this club, whose strength in the past was a fantastic system in which everyone knew its place.

Latest News

Alvarez, Berchice, Nolaskoain and Zarraga are all out for Bilbao.

Coutinho, Fato and Neto won’t play for Barcelona.

Head to Head Games

This is going to be the fourth time for these two sides to face this season. The initial clash was in La Liga and Barca won it on the road, 2-3. Bilbao got even in the Super Cup finals, defeating Barcelona after extra times, 2-3, and the most recent was again in La Liga at Camp Nou, 2-1 for Blaugrana. By the way, all three events were in January.

Prediction

We might be unprofessional by admitting this, but our hearts are with Athletic in this clash. However, we need to be realistic and acknowledge that Barcelona has a better team and that despite losing to Real last weekend, they are in better form than the team from Bilbao. Because of that, our betting pick is Barcelona to win.