Atletico Madrid-Athletic Bilbao is a match valid for the semifinals of the King’s Cup and is played Wednesday at 9:30 pm: free TV, likely lineups, predictions.
Atletico Madrid is the only one of the big three in Spanish soccer still in the running to win the King’s Cup. Therefore, it is the Colchoneros, after the early eliminations of Real Madrid and Barcelona, who are the main favorites, but they will have to watch out for the two Basques, Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, who always give their best in this competition and often go all the way.
In the double semifinal, the opponent of the men coached by “Cholo” Simeone is Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic, a team that is doing much better than last season, which closed out of everything and in an anonymous zone of the standings. The Leones have rediscovered certainties and at the moment seem the only ones able to challenge Atletico Madrid itself in the tight race for fourth place. Athletic Bilbao is currently fifth, just three points behind the Colchoneros. Incidentally, the Basques got the better of them in their only direct clash of the season, decisively beating the Madridites at San Mames last December (2-0).
Basque threat for Atletico
In the King’s Cup quarterfinals, Valverde’s troop knocked off Barcelona, who came out of the red and white stadium with as many as four goals on their backs (4-2). De Marcos and his teammates on Friday also rifled a poker (4-0) at Mallorca, immediately rearing their heads after the defeat in Valencia and the draw in Cadiz.
Simeone and his men, on the other hand, emerged unscathed – for the third time in the season – from the derby with Real, which in the big match at the “Bernabeu” was reached by a goal from Marcos Llorente in the middle of the second half (1-1). It was the sixth consecutive useful result for the Colchoneros, who have not known defeat just since the challenge with the Blancos in the Spanish Super Cup, which ended 5-3 after extra time. In the semifinal first leg, the Argentine coach will be without Lemar, Azpilicueta and Gimenez, while Valverde’s only doubt relates to the condition of Nico Williams, who is not at his best.
The prediction
The feeling is that, barring surprises, qualification will be decided at the return. Therefore, a very balanced match at the Civitas Metropolitano is conceivable, with Atletico Madrid almost certainly managing to avoid defeat. The number of total goals could be less than three.
The probable lineups of Atletico Madrid-Athletic Bilbao
ATLETICO MADRID (3-5-2): Oblak; Hermoso, Witsel, Reinildo; Molina, De Paul, Koke, Saul, Lino; Griezmann, Morata.
ATHLETIC BILBAO (4-2-3-1): Agirrezabala; Lekue, Vivian, Paredes, Berchiche; Ruiz de Galarreta, Prados Diaz; I. Williams, Sancet, Ares; Guruzeta.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
