Valencia vs Athletic Bilbao Match Analysis and Prediction

2 years ago 469

Valencia and Athletic Bilbao lock horns at Mestalla in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-finals on Wednesday night with kickoff at 23:30.

The two played out a hard-fought 1-1 stalemate in the first leg at San Mames earlier this month, with Hudo Duro cancelling out Raul Garcia’s opener. They now meet in the second leg with both looking to book a place in the finals, where they either meet Real Betis or Rayo Vallecano.

Since the draw both sides have been a bit poor in La Liga with both losing two and winning one of their last three league matches. However, Valencia head into the match in high spirits as they are coming of a 1-0 win against Mallorca at away, with Gabriel Paulista’s effort in the fourth minute proving to be enough for Los Che, while Bilbao head into the match dispirited as they are coming off a humiliating 4-0 defeat at hand of a resurgent Barcelona side, with Aubameyang, Dembele, De Jong and Depay getting on the scoresheet.

The two teams are separated by four points in the La Liga standings with Bilbao sitting in the eighth on 37 points one place above Valencia on 33 points. They are both targeting European finishes this season making this match a bit more close as both will be looking build momentum they need for the top-six race.

A win for either will be a massive confidence booster besides seeing them through to the final of the cup and recent history suggests that this will be another fascinating and close affair that most likely to end in a penalty shout-out. The two have drawn their last four matches in a row across all competitions.

Valencia vs Bilbao head to head

Both sides have met in 60 encounters since 1993 with Valencia claiming 25 victories while Bilbao have claimed 16 victories and there have been 19 draws.