FC Barcelona - Athletic Club Bilbao ai prediction 17.04.2021 Copa del Rey

Betting Tip for matchday 0 of the 2020/2021 Copa del Rey between FC Barcelona and Athletic Club Bilbao.

Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao, Copa Del Rey Final 17.04.2021

La Liga action for this weekend has been moved to Sunday as the Copa del Rey takes centre stage on Saturday evening with two of the most successful sides in the competition going head-to-head in the final as Athletic Bilbao take on Barcelona.

Athletic, who lost the 2020 final to Real Sociedad earlier this month, have won this competition on 23 occasions, while Barca have lifted the famous trophy 30 times throughout their history.

For this final, we shall explore 1XBet betting app prices for our betting tips.

ATHLETIC BILBAO

Athletic lost the rescheduled 2019-20 Copa del Rey final to Real Sociedad earlier this month with Mikel Oyarzabal’s second-half penalty the difference between the two teams. They will however have a chance to have another bite at the cherry this weekend against even more formidable opposition.

Their path to the finals has been relatively straightforward this year, but they did need extra time against Levante in the semis, from where they prevailed to book their ticket to a second successive final.

Los Leones’ form coming into this game however doesn’t portend well for them. They are winless in their last six matches and are languishing in 11th place in La Liga which is way below the Basque nation’s fans’ expectations.

BARCELONA

Barca, meanwhile, are the most decorated team in the history of this competition, having won it 30 times, with the last triumph coming in the 2017-18 season. They faced a tough hurdle in the semis after losing 2-0 at Sevilla before turning the tables on them in the return leg at the Camp Nou with a last-minute header tucked in by Pique ensuring a 3-0 win to once again advance to the final.

The Catalan giants had a slow start to the season under new coach Ronald Koeman with a host of issues on and off the pitch. They have however managed to slowly but surely get back into their groove and are now very much in the La Liga title chase, despite their loss to bitter rivals Real Madrid in the El Clasico last weekend.

Ronald Koeman’s side were also knocked out of the Champions League by PSG last month, but they are still in the hunt for two trophies, which would represent a strong season.

Possible Line Ups

BARCELONA VS ATHLETIC BILBAO BETTING TIPS

Barca will be the strong favourites to lift this trophy on Saturday, although, being a cup final, they cannot completely ignore the threat that Athletic come with especially given their history in this competition. We are expecting a tight encounter here but looking at the rank and file of Barcelona, just have too much quality that should be enough to give them the edge here. The Blaugrana will look to put behind them the disappointment of the Champions League and the El Classico loss last weekend. We are therefore backing them to win with a -1 handicap @ 2.34 with 1xBet.

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Despite Athletic’s lack of goalscoring in their recent matches and their relatively solid defence in that time span, their head-to-head encounters with Barcelona tell a completely different story. The last 3 matches have produced over 2.5 goals and plenty of thrills and spills. With both clubs needing a win here to validate their seasons, we expect an all-out attacking game that should easily give us 3 or more goals, which is why we are backing a repeat of Over 2.5 goals to land @ 1.53 for our final betting prediction.

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