Athletic Bilbao-Atletico Madrid is a match valid for the King’s Cup semifinals and is played on Thursday at 9:30pm: free-to-air TV live stream, odds, predictions.
Who will take on surprising Mallorca in the King’s Cup final? The other available slot will be contested by Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid, ready to do battle again in the return semifinal scheduled at the San Mamés. Right now it is the Basques who are “ahead,” thanks to the invaluable success obtained last Feb. 7 in the match at the Civitas Metropolitano (0-1), decided by a penalty from former Torino player Berenguer. A performance of great sacrifice by the Lehoiaks, able to resist until the end to the drumming attacks of the formation coached by “Cholo” Simeone.
To return to play the last act of the national cup after three years – it hasn’t happened since 2021 – Ernesto Valverde’s team will only need not to lose in its stadium, where it has been undefeated for as many as 14 consecutive games between competitions. With a draw, in fact, it would be Athletic Bilbao that would detach the ticket for the final and the dream of lifting the King’s Cup for the first time in 40 long years would become increasingly real. In short, a match that could almost be worth a season for the Basque club, fresh from its ugly league defeat to Pellegrini’s Betis. Probably distracted by the imminent semifinal, Athletic last Sunday wrecked in Andalusia (3-1), thus missing the hooking of fourth place, occupied precisely by Atletico: the two teams, in fact, are rivals in La Liga as well and are currently separated by only 3 points.
For Atletico, a February to forget
Simeone breathed a sigh of relief, as his team did not go beyond a draw with the last in the standings, Almeria (2-2), perhaps still shaken by the knockout with Inter Milan (1-0) in the first leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League.
A February to forget so far for the Colchoneros, who suddenly dropped in performance. Madrid’s only success in the last month was the bombastic 5-0 thrashing of Las Palmas. Simeone is anxious about his striker Griezmann, who was injured against the Nerazzurri. It will be a race against time for the Frenchman: should he fail to make it, it will be Correa’s turn to back up Morata. In Athletic, Yuri and Yeray are in doubt.
The prediction
It will take a feat for claudy Atletico Madrid – in all likelihood without one of its key players like Griezmann – to turn it all around at the San Mamés. Simeone’s team will have to unbalance itself to attempt the comeback, which is why we expect a fairly eventful match, with at least one goal on each side, and consequently with a much livelier second half than the first.
The probable lineups of Athletic Bilbao-Atletico Madrid
ATHLETIC BILBAO (4-2-3-1): Agirrezabala; De Marcos, Vivian, Paredes, Lekue; Vesga, Ruiz de Galarreta; I. Williams, Sancet, N. Williams; Guruzeta.
ATLETICO MADRID (5-3-2): Oblak; Llorente, Savic, Witsel, Hermoso, Lino; De Paul, Koke, Barrios; Correa, Morata.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1