It’s the Copa Del Rey quarterfinals and Barcelona need a victory to ease the pressure on Xavi. Despite late goals pushing Barcelona over Real Betis in La Liga over the weekend, they’ll need a trophy to salvage this season and multiple trophies to make it a success. Being able to break out of their road struggles behind a Ferran Torres hat trick is a positive for Barcelona but Athletic Club will offer a different sort of challenge despite losing to Valencia during the weekend.
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Here’s our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Wednesday, Jan. 24 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: San Mames Barria — Bilbao, Spain
- TV: None | Live stream: ESPN+
- Odds: Athletic Bilbao +175; Draw +230; Barcelona +140
Storylines
Athletic Club: Although Ghana are out of the Africa Cup of Nations, this match will come too soon for Inaki Williams to be back with the club while Dani Garcia, Mikel Vesga and Oscar de Marcos will also be unavailable. Bilbao have been relying on their defense of late but between Gorka Guruzeta and Alex Berenguer, they have quite a balanced attack that will take advantage of all openings allowed by Barcelona.
Barcelona: Joao Cancelo is back but Xavi won’t be boosted by any other injury returns as Gavi, Marcos Alonso, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Inigo Martinez and Raphinha will all miss the match. The ter Stegen absence has been a massive one due to Barcelona’s defensive regression after last season but if Torres can continue to score with ease, that won’t matter.
Prediction
Athletic Club will give Barcelona everything that they can before Barcelona advances on penalties. Pick: Athletic Club 2, Barcelona 2 (Barcelona win on penalties)
