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Spain Supercup. The end. Spain. Seville. Olympic Stadium. 01/17/2021. 22:00. Referee on the field – Jesús Gil Manzano; broadcast – MEGOGO
Last season, Barça ended without trophies: the Champions Cup campaign ended in disgrace 2: 8 for Bayern National Super Cup semi-finals – Atlético de Madrid.
Since then, Barça has not strengthened, but clearly there are more opportunities to make this season more successful. The first of these is the opportunity to win the Spanish Super Cup, in which one rival has already been defeated. With difficulty and haste, the culés won the semifinals of the Real Sociedad. And now on the way to the trophy, another Basque club.
The situation is very spicy. As noted, Barça lost to Athletic in the semifinals of the Spanish Cup last year. In vain, the Catalans stormed Unai Simon’s gates for ninety minutes, and before the final whistle of regulation time they conceded an own goal from Sergio Busquets. It is noteworthy that the game took place less than a year ago, but both teams managed to change coaches.
It is with one of the mentors, by the way, that the spicy enthusiasm of the confrontation is associated: Marcelino Toral defeated Barça in the final of the 2019 Spanish Cup with Valencia, after which he lost his position due to disagreements with the leadership. And in “Athletics” Toral can get a trophy in the third match after his official appointment. Pure football romance.
Toral hit the very mouth of the volcano without heating. The first independent fight after being appointed coach of Athletic, he played against Barça in the championship (defeat 2: 3), and then there was a battle with Real Madrid in the semifinals of the Spanish Super Cup. And now there is one more series of duels with the Blaugranas. Regardless of his outcome, Toral will be held in high regard, because he has earned the authority of a labor victory over “Real.” And the defeat against Barça in the championship was not desperate.
Athletic is preparing to fight Barcelona regardless of whether Lionel Messi appears on the field. The Argentine missed the semifinal match due to injury, but the partners found the strength to win without their leader. However, in the final, Messi’s help would not have hurt Barcelona. Lionel often independently decides the fate of such fights.
But who will definitely not appear in “Barça”, that’s why Fati, Coutinho, Piqué and Roberto are injured. The “Athletic” does not have the help of Yuri and Unai López.
Approximate compositions:
“Barcelona”: ter Stegen – Dest, Langley, Araujo, Alba – De Jong, Busquets, Pedry – Dembele, Griezmann, Brightwhite
Athletic: Unai Simon – Balenciaga, Martinez, Nunez, Capa De Marcos, Vesga, Dani Garcia, Muniain – Raul Garcia, I. Williams
Prediction: Barcelona win 1: 0.
The “Athletic” proved to be quite good in terms of defensive work in the match with “Real”. Marcelino Toral saturated the areas, made the most of the physical capacities of his managers. Without a doubt Barça will attack with as much intensity as Real Madrid, but this time it is unlikely that we will see three Blaugrana goals (as was the case in the last league game). A goal will decide the fate of the confrontation, as it was in three of the last four games between rivals.
A bet on Barcelona to win with a goal difference.
