The first major knockout tournament is upon as it’s time for the Spanish Super Cup. Since last year the format has been changed to a one-legged format.
The participants of the Super Cup are the winners and runners up of the previous season of La Liga and the Copa Del Rey. The final of the Copa Del Rey is yet to take place but the finalists are known. This season the Super Cup will be fought for by FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad. The first match is between Barcelona and Sociedad while the second one is between Madrid and Bilbao. The winners of the two matches are to meet in the final.
MATCH 1- (BARCELONA vs SOCIEDAD)
The first match of the Super cup is between the Catalan Kings and La Real which promises to be a mouth-watering contest. The match will be played at the Estadio El Arcangel which is the home ground of third division side Cordoba CF.
Barcelona are enjoying a great run of form recently as they are undefeated in their previous 8 ventures. Sociedad had a really strong start to the season but now they have lost 4 of their last 6 matches, winning only one against arch rivals Bilbao.
In their previous fixture Barcelona came from behind to defeat Alguacil’s side 2-1 thanks to Frenkie De Jong and Jordi Alba. Leo Messi has returned to form recently and the whole Barca team looks sharp, but we can never rule out the possibility of a shock considering how good of a team Sociedad are.
PREDICTION: 3-1 to Barcelona.
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MATCH 2- (REAL MADRID vs BILBAO)
The second match is between Los Blancos and Los Leones at the Estadio La Rosaleda – the home ground of Malaga. Real Madrid are undefeated in their last 9 fixtures, winning 7 out of those 9. Bilbao on the other hand haven’t had an exactly good season. Their manager Garitano was sacked recently and it has been only 1.5 weeks since the new manager Marcelino has arrived.
In his first game incharge a determined Leo Messi put Bilbao to the sword, but there were some bright moments for the team from the Basque country. Still it will be interesting to see how Marcelino marshalls his side to face the defending champions. In the last meeting between the two sides Madrid eased out a 3-1 victory but Bilbao by no means will give them such an easy job this time round.
PREDICTION: 2-0 to Real Madrid.