La Liga (Spanish League) Prediction Thread 2023/24

[jostorres]

Big night for Villareal last night. They had a lot of doubters after the first leg, when all they could do was win with a penalty. And facing up against the team that knocked out Tottenham Hotspur, I guess a lot of people would have said Villareal couldn't go through.

But here there are now in the semis. No way they can beat Arsenal though right?

@slaman29 whenever a team plays with overconfidence and underestimates their opponents they pay a price for it, and kudos to Villareal for playing with confidence and winning this match. Furthermore I see no reason why they can’t beat Arsenal, because Arsenal isn’t a strong team this season so anything can happen.

Source:

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/football/arteta-accepts-full-responsibility-for-arsenals-poor-form/article33337595.ece (Little old article but not much has changed)

Villareal is not doing this great on la lia, how are they doing this great on europa league I will never understand. You are saying that Arsenal is not doing great in premier league, but Villareal is 7th in la liga as well, they are not doing great neither. So, there is really no logic why these teams are so high on europa if you ask me if we look at the leagues.

Basically it will be a match between two teams that are doing not as well as expected in their respective leagues and they have been contrary to that very well on the European games and came as far as semi finals, that is really good, if one of them were better in the league I would say what you said would be correct but unfortunately people are totally ignoring that as a whole. In any case I rather have these close teams and I seriously do not see one of them better than the other, they are definitely %50-50 equals to me.

[hahay]

Big night for Villareal last night. They had a lot of doubters after the first leg, when all they could do was win with a penalty. And facing up against the team that knocked out Tottenham Hotspur, I guess a lot of people would have said Villareal couldn't go through.

But here there are now in the semis. No way they can beat Arsenal though right?

@slaman29 whenever a team plays with overconfidence and underestimates their opponents they pay a price for it, and kudos to Villareal for playing with confidence and winning this match. Furthermore I see no reason why they can’t beat Arsenal, because Arsenal isn’t a strong team this season so anything can happen.

Source:

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/football/arteta-accepts-full-responsibility-for-arsenals-poor-form/article33337595.ece (Little old article but not much has changed)

Villareal is not doing this great on la lia, how are they doing this great on europa league I will never understand. You are saying that Arsenal is not doing great in premier league, but Villareal is 7th in la liga as well, they are not doing great neither. So, there is really no logic why these teams are so high on europa if you ask me if we look at the leagues.

Basically it will be a match between two teams that are doing not as well as expected in their respective leagues and they have been contrary to that very well on the European games and came as far as semi finals, that is really good, if one of them were better in the league I would say what you said would be correct but unfortunately people are totally ignoring that as a whole. In any case I rather have these close teams and I seriously do not see one of them better than the other, they are definitely %50-50 equals to me.

Even so, Arsenal still have a better chance of progressing to the final. Indeed, if we look at their performance so far this season it is not that good and even if it is calculated from the total matches in each league, at least their winning record is not that different. What makes the difference is about the squads that each of these teams has, at least it has a difference which I think is enough to bring the team to win in the duel later.

Regardless of that result, I'm sure Villarreal can still end this season to lock in the 5th position, maybe be able to shift the position of Real Sociedad and Betis later.

[tomahawk9]

Copa del Rey final later today and Marca's cover is beautiful 🤩


https://www.marca.com/multimedia/primeras/21/04/0417.html

Bilbao's record in league cup finals in the 21st century: 4 games, 4 lossess (3 against FC Barcelona)
on the other hand, Barcelona's record: 9 finals, 7 wins, 2 losses (vs. Real Madrid and Valencia)

guys, who's gonna win tonight??

[Daniel91]

The Spanish Cup final between Athletic Club and Barcelona was announced by the Spanish newspaper Marca very bombastically, with the following headline: ''Athletic vs Barcelona: Messi's last final?''
After losing in the Champions League to Paris and after losing to Real in the championship Barcelona in this final simply has to win to save this season.
There is a lot of pressure now on Messi and Barcelona players while Athletic Club players have nothing to lose and much to gain.
I think we can expect a very interesting and uncertain match.

Source: https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2021/04/17/607ab096268e3e162b8b45c3.html

[ILuckyGuyI]

Real Madrid managed to keep the score at 0-0 till the end and they have advanced to the semi final.

They did it, they have a draw result.
I think they have planned to not force their power to score. Zidane probably instructed their players to play effectively. Their target seems just to qualify to the semi-final, without forcing themselves to win again, a draw result is enough. I can conclude it based on the stats of Real Madrid today, it is much different from the first Leg. They didn't play as aggressively as in the first Leg.

Yeah, there wasn't any need for them to show the same level of performance in the first leg. They had already a huge 3-1 score advantage and all they needed to do was maintaining it. And they made it. Liverpool couldn't do much against them so I appreciate Real's huge effort.

Zidane's strategy was right when Madrid didn't play aggressively like in the first leg, because Real Madrid had won on aggregate, for what risky
attacking play will give Liverpool players space to score goals. And like you said Real Madrid managed to keep the aggregate in the second leg
and deserved to qualify for the semi-finals. Then the next in the semi-finals will face Chelsea, in my opinion, the opponent is not too difficult
than Madrid to face Manchester City or PSG.

I'd like to say, don't be so sure about it.    Liverpool have been out-of-form for a very long time and they were not much different in the CL too. But things are not the same for Chelsea now. They've had a very nice form with Tuchel. I believe that they really have the power to make big difficulties for Real Madrid and even eliminate them. So, Real Madrid should really watch out for them.

[LTU_btc]

Copa del Rey final later today and Marca's cover is beautiful 🤩
https://www.marca.com/multimedia/primeras/21/04/0417.html

Bilbao's record in league cup finals in the 21st century: 4 games, 4 lossess (3 against FC Barcelona)
on the other hand, Barcelona's record: 9 finals, 7 wins, 2 losses (vs. Real Madrid and Valencia)

guys, who's gonna win tonight??

Well, you know, I'm biased, so I can only back Barca tonight. We are favorites, but Athletic isn't easy opponent for us this season, they already took Supercopa from us.
Who knows, maybe it's last final for Messi in Barcelona. I'll just remind that in Copa del Rey final against Athletic in 2015, Messi scored one of the best his career goal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch-vWyK2yJs
It would be nice if he would make something extraordinary again today.

[snipie]

Copa del Rey final later today and Marca's cover is beautiful 🤩

https://i.imgur.com/vVModoC.jpg
Bilbao's record in league cup finals in the 21st century: 4 games, 4 lossess (3 against FC Barcelona)
on the other hand, Barcelona's record: 9 finals, 7 wins, 2 losses (vs. Real Madrid and Valencia)

guys, who's gonna win tonight??

History, performance, odds (Barca @1.62 - Bilbao @5.4) are all on Barca's side. Apart from Bilbao kicking Barca from Supercopa, it lost twice against it in La Liga this season. In addition, Barca is hungry for a trophy this season so...

[bitjoin]

The Spanish Cup final between Athletic Club and Barcelona was announced by the Spanish newspaper Marca very bombastically, with the following headline: ''Athletic vs Barcelona: Messi's last final?''
After losing in the Champions League to Paris and after losing to Real in the championship Barcelona in this final simply has to win to save this season.
There is a lot of pressure now on Messi and Barcelona players while Athletic Club players have nothing to lose and much to gain.
I think we can expect a very interesting and uncertain match.

Source: https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2021/04/17/607ab096268e3e162b8b45c3.html

The defeats that Barcelona swallowed by PSG and MADRID questioned Messi quality as the best player in the world, Moreover, recently Messi has never scored a goal in several El-clasico match, So it's only natural that Marca made such a title.
As a coach, Ronald Koeman must be able to make Messi to get out of this pressure. Maybe by winning the Spanish Cup Final will make the Barcelona players mentally improve again after they suffered 2 very painful defeats, And make them even more excited to fight for the La-Liga title this year.

[Harkorede]

Copa del Rey final later today and Marca's cover is beautiful 🤩


https://www.marca.com/multimedia/primeras/21/04/0417.html

Bilbao's record in league cup finals in the 21st century: 4 games, 4 lossess (3 against FC Barcelona)
on the other hand, Barcelona's record: 9 finals, 7 wins, 2 losses (vs. Real Madrid and Valencia)

guys, who's gonna win tonight??

It's been literally all Barcelona all through the first 45 minutes, but Barcelona haven't been to convert any of their numerous and this always comes back to hunt them, especially playing against Athletic Bilbao.

There's still 45 minutes to play for and it will be in the best interest of Barcelona not to concede first, else it might be game over.

[BIT-BENDER]

Still a draw between Barcelona and athletic Bilbao, but the catalants should remember that this is a cup final and should be more productive with there possession, this may just be the only clear silver wear available for Barcelona this season.

Athletic Bilbao has soaked up Barcelona attacks at them, I think there game plan maybe soak up pressure and capitalize on defensive errors which Barcelona are fond of, the cup is open for both teams for now.

[snipie]

It's been literally all Barcelona all through the first 45 minutes, but Barcelona haven't been to convert any of their numerous and this always comes back to hunt them, especially playing against Athletic Bilbao.

There's still 45 minutes to play for and it will be in the best interest of Barcelona not to concede first, else it might be game over.

Griezmann and now De Jong in just few minutes, Barca is now leading with 2 goals with Bilbao barely making a single attempt. Game over tho.

Edit: Messi scored, 3 - 0 for Barcelona. Party?

[MAAManda]

Still a draw between Barcelona and athletic Bilbao, but the catalants should remember that this is a cup final and should be more productive with there possession, this may just be the only clear silver wear available for Barcelona this season.

Athletic Bilbao has soaked up Barcelona attacks at them, I think there game plan maybe soak up pressure and capitalize on defensive errors which Barcelona are fond of, the cup is open for both teams for now.

Final result:
Athletic Bilbao 0 - 4 Barcelona

3 Quick Goals Create instantly in the 60th to 68th minute

Goal:
Antoine Griezmann 60'
Frenkie de Jong 63'
Lionel Messi 68' 72'

Edit: What a Goal??? Messi Scored again on 72th Minute

[LTU_btc]

Congratulations to all Barca fans here! Well deserved win, honestly, it was difficult to expect 4:0 win tonight. Maybe final score don't reflect it, but it wasn't that easy for Barca to beat Bilbao defense, we struggled in the 1st half. But I don't know what Athletic tried to achieve by playing such football, they just parked buss tonight. Yes, such ugly defensive football worked well in Supercopa final few months ago, but it's difficult to expect that you can beat Barca in such way twice.
Messi got MVP award, but I think real MVP was De Jong.
Athletic got unique achievement - they lost 2 Copa del Rey finals just in 2 weeks. I'm Barca fan, but it was kinda sad to see how Munian, Williams or Villalibre reacted to this loss.

[jakdanyel]

Congratulations to all Barca fans here! Well deserved win, honestly, it was difficult to expect 4:0 win tonight. Maybe final score don't reflect it, but it wasn't that easy for Barca to beat Bilbao defense, we struggled in the 1st half. But I don't know what Athletic tried to achieve by playing such football, they just parked buss tonight. Yes, such ugly defensive football worked well in Supercopa final few months ago, but it's difficult to expect that you can beat Barca in such way twice.
Messi got MVP award, but I think real MVP was De Jong.
Athletic got unique achievement - they lost 2 Copa del Rey finals just in 2 weeks. I'm Barca fan, but it was kinda sad to see how Munian, Williams or Villalibre reacted to this loss.

It was really a well-deserved win for Barcelona for sure. Messi was on one of his best days and scored 2 goals in this match. A. Bilbao got only one shot on target and they had a really poor performance. Congrats to Barcelona for winning the cup!

[DIA7]

Congratulations to all Barca fans here! Well deserved win, honestly, it was difficult to expect 4:0 win tonight. Maybe final score don't reflect it, but it wasn't that easy for Barca to beat Bilbao defense, we struggled in the 1st half. But I don't know what Athletic tried to achieve by playing such football, they just parked buss tonight. Yes, such ugly defensive football worked well in Supercopa final few months ago, but it's difficult to expect that you can beat Barca in such way twice.
Messi got MVP award, but I think real MVP was De Jong.
Athletic got unique achievement - they lost 2 Copa del Rey finals just in 2 weeks. I'm Barca fan, but it was kinda sad to see how Munian, Williams or Villalibre reacted to this loss.

It was really a well-deserved win for Barcelona for sure. Messi was on one of his best days and scored 2 goals in this match. A. Bilbao got only one shot on target and they had a really poor performance. Congrats to Barcelona for winning the cup!

This tournament must be won foe Barcelona players since the beginning of the match this win going to bring a lot motivation. Fierce, fighting and attack after an attack until they killed their opponent with a fou.
A tournament that should be dedicated to coach Koman because he deserves praise after the start of a season that was not good .
I belleive that De Jong Messi and Dest were the best today, like most Barca platees today .
Getting positive results will be a great boost of confidence for the rest of the league season after the Champions League exit and the defeat in the Classico.

[Luzin]

Congratulations to all Barca fans here! Well deserved win, honestly, it was difficult to expect 4:0 win tonight. Maybe final score don't reflect it, but it wasn't that easy for Barca to beat Bilbao defense, we struggled in the 1st half.

The difference in the quality of the players is very big, Barca is very superior. Congratulations to you on the trophy you deserve. If I'm not mistaken this is your first trophy in the season. After this Barca will probably focus more on La Liga, competing for the championship. There are still eight games left, Atletico and Barca can focus on La Liga while Real Madrid have more of an matches at UCL. Of course my hope is that Madrid will be able to share their concentration for the League and UCL. This is Zidane's chance to win two titles at once in one season.

[Harkorede]

Messi got MVP award, but I think real MVP was De Jong.
Athletic got unique achievement - they lost 2 Copa del Rey finals just in 2 weeks. I'm Barca fan, but it was kinda sad to see how Munian, Williams or Villalibre reacted to this loss.

De Jong would have been my MVP too, he was really fantastic all night, filling up all space even on the flanks, he was literally all over the pitch, reminds me of the good old Busquets with a mixture of Xavi, what a performance! Even ESPN rated him on a perfect 10 http://www.espn.com/soccer/barcelona/story/4362471/de-jong-leads-barcelona-to-copa-del-rey-crown-with-perfect-10-performance-vs-athletic%3fplatform=amp

[ILuckyGuyI]

Congratulations to all Barca fans here! Well deserved win, honestly, it was difficult to expect 4:0 win tonight. Maybe final score don't reflect it, but it wasn't that easy for Barca to beat Bilbao defense, we struggled in the 1st half. But I don't know what Athletic tried to achieve by playing such football, they just parked buss tonight. Yes, such ugly defensive football worked well in Supercopa final few months ago, but it's difficult to expect that you can beat Barca in such way twice.
Messi got MVP award, but I think real MVP was De Jong.
Athletic got unique achievement - they lost 2 Copa del Rey finals just in 2 weeks. I'm Barca fan, but it was kinda sad to see how Munian, Williams or Villalibre reacted to this loss.

It was really a well-deserved win for Barcelona for sure. Messi was on one of his best days and scored 2 goals in this match. A. Bilbao got only one shot on target and they had a really poor performance. Congrats to Barcelona for winning the cup!

Messi was definitely in a good mood. He's done everything he can this season for his team so far. He scored 31 goals and made 13 assists in 40 official matches. He is like an irrevocable player for Barcelona. And if he leaves the team this summer, Barcelona should definitely have a Plan B.

[Daniel91]

While Barcelona players celebrate a new trophy, and are preparing to attack the title of champion, Real is in serious trouble.
''Real Madrid have named just 13 senior outfield players in their matchday squad to take on Getafe on Sunday.''
''The 19-man list includes three academy players - Sergio Arribas, Antonio Blanco and Miguel Gutierrez - alongside the fit first teamers''
Eden Hazard, Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Lucas Vazquez and Ferland Mendy are injured and Varane is Covid positive.
A very difficult competition schedule seems to affects Real players and the question is whether Real players will endure to the end.
What do you think?

Source: https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2021/04/17/607b436d46163fcb5a8b45c3.html

[Pulsar77]

While Barcelona players celebrate a new trophy, and are preparing to attack the title of champion, Real is in serious trouble.
''Real Madrid have named just 13 senior outfield players in their matchday squad to take on Getafe on Sunday.''
''The 19-man list includes three academy players - Sergio Arribas, Antonio Blanco and Miguel Gutierrez - alongside the fit first teamers''
Eden Hazard, Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Lucas Vazquez and Ferland Mendy are injured and Varane is Covid positive.
A very difficult competition schedule seems to affects Real players and the question is whether Real players will endure to the end.
What do you think?

Source: https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2021/04/17/607b436d46163fcb5a8b45c3.html

It will be quite hard to deal with for Real Madrid for certain. At least Benzema is not absent and he plays a big role on scoring and carries the team. They are competing in the La Liga and the UCL both at the same time. I wonder whether they will handle this. But I think they will manage to be competitive until the end in both tournaments.