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Ath Bilbao vs Barcelona Prediction & Betting tips
Top duel in the Copa del Rey – because FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao are the two most decorated teams in the Spanish Cup: Barça is the record champion with 30 titles, followed by Athletic Bilbao with 23 triumphs.
In total, both teams stood 78 times in the final. A cup game in Spain cannot be more traditional.
If you also consider that in the reformed Copa, a single knockout game decides whether well or woe, this classic gets even more explosive.
Athletic Bilbao has the home advantage, of course, a not to be underestimated pledge. Both teams are struggling abroad this season, in the Cup Athletic Club trembled twice against Elche and Tenerife twice on penalties, Barça wobbled tremendously in the third round on Ibiza.
It will also be exciting to see whether both teams compete in top form – or whether the league is prioritized. Either way, it should be a hard-fought and therefore tight game. At Athletic Bilbao against Barcelona, the odds of bookmakers also show this.
Athletic Bilbao:
The shape of the home side is anything but good. In the league, Athletic Bilbao has been waiting for a win for seven games (5 draws, 2 defeats), most recently a 0-2 draw against Getafe at home in San Mames at the weekend.
The main problem of the “Los Leones”: scoring the goal. In the said seven games, the Basques scored only five goals, in 22 league games only as many goals. Only five teams have scored fewer goals, all of which are fighting relegation, while Bilbao has European ambitions. On average, the Basques score one goal per game.
After all, Aritz Aduriz should be fit again, the striker was recently missing due to a hip injury. Aduriz knows how to score against Barça – he scored the winning goal of the Basque in the 1-0 in the league on matchday 1 – by a sideways pull in the 90th minute.
Meanwhile, the defense of Bilbao is safe, the defensive duo Yeray Alvarez and Iñigo Martinez are difficult to overcome, as just 17 goals conceded in the league prove.
Barcelona:
Meanwhile, the shape curve of the guests from Barcelona is pointing upwards. Under new coach Quique Setién, the Catalans won four of the five games, only in Valencia they lost.
But that very bankruptcy was significant because: in a foreign country, the shoe presses. “The weakness away from home has so far been an unsolved problem,” Setién admitted recently, “we will try to change something about it.”
At home, Barcelona are usually dominant, while in the opposing stadium, the incumbent Spanish champions are often bought the cutting edge – four bankruptcies, three draws and four wins are the staid league record abroad.
The Catalans don’t really have an explanation for their misery away from home. “The goal is to play the same way at home as at home,” said Setien as a route.
But that will be difficult in San Mames, the Basques are one of the most uncomfortable opponents you can meet at home – and their home record is not bad, either. In eleven games, the lions only received two defeats.
Ath Bilbao vs Barcelona head to head matches
16.08.19 LL Ath Bilbao Barcelona 1 : 0
10.02.19 LL Ath Bilbao Barcelona 0 : 0
29.09.18 LL Barcelona Ath Bilbao 1 : 1
18.03.18 LL Barcelona Ath Bilbao 2 : 0
28.10.17 LL Ath Bilbao Barcelona 0 : 2