Why Athletic Bilbao Can Win the Copa Del Rey
Llorente has made a very bold prediction
“We are going to surprise Barcelona and we are going to win this final.” This confident statement wasn’t from the mouth of a drunk Basque fisherman in a Bilbao bar. Or one of the 20,000 fans who watched their teams final training session at San Mames. It was spouted by in form Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente. And you know what? I agree with him.
Barcelona may be the second best team in Europe right now (yes, Manchester United are better), but they’ve had a huge couple of weeks. Two massive matches with Chelsea in the Champions League, an El Classico and a 3-3 draw at the Camp Nou on Sunday with Villarreal have drained the Blaugrana of physical strength, mental toughness and some crucial players.
This will be music to the ears of Athletic Bilbao coach Joaquin Caparros, who will have the luxury of a full strength squad in which to choose his starting eleven from. He gave all of his stars a rest on the weekend for the match against Real Betis. They’re professional 1-0 win means they’ve now gone four games unbeaten in the league. The Basque side are full of confidence at the minute.
There will be no Iniesta, Henry, Marquez or Abidal on the Barca team sheet at the Mestalla on Wednesday. There may be no Valdes or Puyol either if Guardiola decides to give backup keeper Jose Pinto and forgotten defender Martin Caceres a run. Not exactly great news going into a cup final.
However, despite these noticeable absentees, Barca still contain more quality in their ranks than Bilbao. A lot more. They’re not bulletproof though. Set pieces have been a problem for them all season–Juninho’s free kick in the Champions League round of 16 and Sergio Ramos’ free header for Real’s second at the Bernabeu when the game was still there to be won, immediately come to mind–and Bilbao have a major weapon to exploit this–Fernando Llorente.
The beanpole striker has 13 league and 4 Copa goals to his name and has been crucial to Athletic’s success this season. He’s quick, strong, intelligent, effective with both feet and dynamic on the ground and in the air. He’s Bilbao’s match winner and the Barca defence will not want to let him out of their sight for even a moment on Wednesday night.
Los Leones are by no means a one man band, though. Llorente will no doubt be ably backed up by the underrated Andoni Iraola, Javier Martinez, Fernando Amorebita and the guy who is playing purely for his love of the Athletic shirt, Joseba Etxeberria. Crucially, Athletic Bilbao are a proud lot. They will not give an inch on Wednesday and they won’t stop fighting for the entire ninety minutes. They will make life extremely uncomfortable for Barcelona.
Barcelona may still be on track for a treble this season, but they still haven’t actually won anything. They should have wrapped up the league on the weekend, but couldn’t hold off a spirited Villarreal outfit. There will no doubt be extra pressure on the players in this match as they seek to get trophy number one out of the way against a team they should account for quite easily.
Bilbao, on the other hand, have nothing to lose. Caparros phrased it perfectly, “At the end of the day there are two teams, one is the best in the world, the other has a lot of passion and pride”. It’s as simple as that. For all their confident rhetoric and bold statements about beating the Catalan club to cup number 25, surely no one around San Mames is actually expecting them to win this match. A victory would be a monumental upset, one for the ages, whilst a loss would be put down to them being beaten by one of the best teams going around. Plus, they will be in Europe next season, regardless of the outcome. They can just go for it.
This years final of the Copa Del Rey will be special, with the two clubs with more cup wins than anyone else facing off against each other to see who will stand alone at the top. I, for one, can’t wait for kick off.
For the record, I think Athletic will pinch it 3-2, courtesy of a late header from Llorente.
A good article leading up (hopefully) to a good final. If Man U is the best team in Europe now, that’s only due to Barca’s injuries. Given a healthy squad, Barca would have the edge. But the squad is not healthy. Today should be interesting.
I’m somewhat confounded at the assertion that Barça are the second best team in Europe juxtaposed to your other claim that Barça haven’t won anything yet. So despite the little event of a final in Rome on the 27th, Barça are second best, and for tonight’s Copa del Rey final it’s too presumptuous to predict a Barcelona win? I know (having read your articles) that you don’t support the team and I’m not taking issue with that (I think it’s good to have other fans writing here). But let’s not take the bias too far shall we?
Barça are lighting it up now… 4-1 in the 63rd minute.
Um.. no they can’t…
yo daniel – fair enough, perhaps i was a little too optimistic…but I’d rather write about an underdog like Bilbao, and how they may steal a win, than about how wicked Barca are…that’s just me. At least they scored first, from a set piece no less…their defending could cost them the UCL, dont you think?
It’s all good Elmerson. I don’t fault you for who you support. Yes, Barcelona’s defense is shaky. The name of the game for Barca is to score more goals than they let in. Quite an obvious statement but one principle that Barcelona will have to play by against United. But great first step with the Copa del Rey.
whoever wrote this article is definitely a Man U fan, you should be professional and be unbiased, let the favoritism to the fans and not for the media “professionals”, by the way Barca may have injured players but they are human and they heal with time, we are coming to get that CL cup from Rome and take it back to Catalunya, this is Barca’s year and they will beat a great team like Man U with a spirited team like the one they have. By the way your score prediction was sooo totally off, 4-1 for Barca in case you didn’t know.
you’re hilarious Leo – clearly you didn’t read the comments above yours, or any of my other articles in the past. This was hardly a biased article – I’ve never said Barca aren’t a great team. Ever. Why can’t people write about the underdog? No alves and no abidal in Rome will mean Barca will have to score at least…3 goals? At least 2 I think. Can they do that against Man Utds defense? They’ll have to have an incredible night out. If they win the UCL, there’ll definitely be worthy winners.