Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona - 25th May

The Spanish Cup final between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona takes place on the 25th May at Estadio Vicente Calderón (Madrid)

Its been revealed that Dani Alves will miss the game as he has broken his collarbone.

This will be Pep Guardiola's last match in charge of the Catalans and their last chance to win a major trophy this season.

The Basques only finished in 10th place in La Liga and need to win this cup final if they want to play in Europe.

Any comments or predictions?

Its the Spanish cup final on Friday night which is being shown live on Sky Sports with a 9pm kick off.

Bilbao have a couple of players suffering with the flu but should otherwise be at full strength for this clash in Madrid

Barcelona have also sorts of problems in defence with Abidal,Alves and Puyol all out injured and Villa still not fully fit.


I hope that the fans of both of these clubs will respect the Spanish national anthem and King Juan Carlos during the final

I find it amusing that 2 clubs who have no wish to be Spanish at all are playing the capital and at my teams stadium El Vicente Calderon.

Any comments or predictions?

hopefully a barca win. would be great to see pep go out with a win and a trophy. was hoping bilbao would win the europa league coz they deserve a trophy for there performances this year but hope barca win. hopefully there wont be any chesea tactics from bilbao. dont think there will be. theyve got some brave and confident on the ball players

The president caused uproar at claiming the game shouldnt be played in Madrid and not only that should be played behind closed doors in response to allegations both sets of fans will boo the national anthem.

Hopefully there is no trouble today a facist march is scheduled in Madrid today which includes folk of the anti Catalan and anti Basque variety.

As for the game it should be a very open final, neither teams have shown they can defend and Barca are missing Alves, Abidal and Puyol. Will be interesting to see how Montoya handles the pressure if as expected he plays.
Hopefully Barca win as it would be nice for Pep to end his reign with trophy number 14.

its not that they cant defend its that they choose to attack. especially barca and your defense is always going to be more exposed than negative teams. wouldnt like it any other way. hopefully a barca win

Barcas defence is to press high up and it hasn't been done properly this season for certain reasons.
Weve looked extremely exposed on set plays this season which worries me against Bilbao, they're all huge.
Your right though the fact they both attack so much leaves them light at the back, its funny I always worry about our defence but Valdes has won three of the last for Zamorras

Line ups

Athletic Bilbao:
Iraizoz; Iraola, Ekiza, Amorebieta, Aurtenetxe; Martinez, De Marcos; Muniain, Susaeta, Ibai; Llorente...

Subs: Raul, Toquero, San Jose, Gabilondo, Inigo Perez, Gurpegi, Ander Herrera


Barcelona:
Pinto; Montoya, Piqué, Mascherano, Adriano; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Pedro, Alexis, Messi..

Subs: Valdés, Bartra, Thiago, Keita, Afellay, Fabregas, Tello

HT

Athletic Bilbao 0-3 Barcelona

What a great start by the Catalans scoring 3 times after just 24 minutes through Pedro twice and Lionel Messi.

It was a disaster for the Basques and they are very lucky indeed that they will still qualify as losers for next seasons EL.

The question now is how many more will Barca go onto score in this final?

Result

Friday 25th May

Athletic Bilbao 0 - 3 FC Barcelona
0-1 Pedro 3’
0-2 Messi 20’
0-3 Pedro 25’

There were no more goals in the 2nd half but Pep Guardiola ends his time as Barcelona manager on a high with victory in the Copa del Rey.

Bilbao just couldn't manage with the high tempo that Barca started the game with and came under wave after wave of attack.

They should have been awarded a penalty at the end of the 1st half when Llorente was hauled down and had a couple
of chances to score in the 2nd period but there was no way back for them really when they went down 3-0 after only 25 minutes.

I was pleased that both sets of fans behaved themselves in my teams stadium and that there were opposing supporters even sitting right next to each other.

Any comments?!

Brilliant result, that was the performance that this team has consistently shown under Guardiola and im glad he signed off with another trophy, 14 out of 19 unbelievable. Started with a Copa Del Rey against Bilbao and ended with one.
All of the goals scored with the weaker foot of Pedro and Messi, think the former has nailed on his Spain place.
I think the fans have a mutual respect so was never going to be an issue, Puyol flying the Basque flag at the end showed this.
Gracies Pep!

shows you how much barca needed a rest. that was the real high pressing high tempo passing and clinical finishing barca. great send off for pep