Athletic Bilbao vs Real Madrid

Athletic Bilbao have an opportunity to gain swift revenge on Real Madrid following the Supercopa de Espana heartbreak as the two sides go head-to-head at the Estadio San Mames in an exciting Copa del Rey quarter-final tie.

Athletic Bilbao overcame Barcelona in the previous Copa del Rey round, pulling off a stunning 3-2 extra-time win despite being pegged back in the final moments of regulation time. Though they carry a reputation as the ‘entertainment killers,’ San Mames has hosted some high-scoring fixtures lately, with four of Bilbao’s last five competitive home matches seeing over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet. Against this backdrop, before a 2-1 La Liga defeat back in December, each of Bilbao’s previous four home meetings with Madrid had featured under 2.5 total goals. That’s mainly due to their inability to penetrate Madrid’s defence, as evidenced by the fact they failed to find the back of the net in three of those four H2Hs.

On the other hand, Real Madrid headed in January’s international break on the back of a 2-2 home draw with Eibar that saw them come from a 2-0 deficit to avoid defeat. Curiously, it took ‘Los Blancos’ late extra-time heroics to overcome Eibar in the previous Copa del Rey round, as they bounced back from a 1-0 down to secure a late 2-1 victory and reach the competition’s quarter-finals. Including extra-time, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have racked up five triumphs from their last six competitive games (D1) since suffering a dismal 1-0 loss at Getafe in their 2022 curtain-raiser. But excluding extra-time, the current La Liga pacesetters have flattered to deceive on the road lately, experiencing mixed fortunes across their last three domestic travels (W1, D1, L1).