Athletic – Barcelona. Forecast and announcement for the 1/2 final match of the Spanish Super Cup

On January 8, the “King Abdullah Sports City” (Jeddah) will host the semi-final match of the Spanish Super Cup, in which “Athletic” will meet with “Barcelona”. The match will start at 21:00 Kyiv time.

Athletic

From 2022, the team will again play under the leadership of Valverde. At first, Ernesto’s new tenure in Bilbao did not produce the expected progress, although the Basques were added immediately. But then there was last year’s triumph, when it was possible to win the first cup in 40 years, and in the Premier League then the club finished in 5th position. What’s more, and now it is possible not to lose momentum. The return to the Europa League turned out to be successful, in 6 matches of 2024, it brought an away draw with Roma and 5 victories. In the Premier League, Athletic collected 10 victories and 36 points – only the top three giants showed themselves better in 2024. The new calendar year started with a cup match with UD Logroños. And they passed it only on penalty kicks, after a scoreless draw in game time.

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Barcelona

Last season, the club again remained without trophies. In the end, Lopetegui, after thinking about it, still fired Xavi, although he refused the promise given in the winter to leave the post in the summer. In the end, Flick became the coach, and it seemed to be a hit in the top ten. Especially after the blue-garnets defeated Bayern and Real Madrid, and in Madrid. But then there was a sharp decline, and if the situation was quickly stabilized in the Champions League, then in the Premier League the Catalans frankly deflated, showing statistics at the outsider level since November: only 1 win and 5 points in 7 rounds. At the same time, the club lost more than not against the strongest opponents – Real Sociedad, Las Palmas, Leganes (and the last at home), and after 1:2 with Atlético, they gave it the lead. In January, in the cup with Barbastro, of course, they lost their souls, won 4:0 – but the opponent there was already very weak. The situation around Dana Olmo, according to insiders, is also difficult in the locker room – the players do not understand why Laporta refused to register.

Statistics of personal meetings

In the last three El Clasicos, the Kules won against the Basques only once, in August.

Forecast

Bookmakers are expecting a victory for the blue and garnet, but it seems that they are clearly out of shape. We expect that Valverde’s wards will not lose (coefficient – 1.99).