It feels that all the world is backing Athletic here as the improvent of them is huge since the managerial change from Garitano to Marcelino after the Elche match. Can not really blame them, and I understand the odds can seem short.

Here are the latest league results, and I would not go crazy over them. A deserved loss to Barca at home, a efficient show v Getafe in an equal match. On their travels Bilbao has been notoriusly bad, and also this season they are statiscally the weakest away team, and we can not blame only Garitano for that. One win from 9 games, back in September vs another Basque outfit Eibar.

Marcelino has had a tough schedule to say the least, in addition to these he has met Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Super cup, and with excellent results!

However the final vs Barcelona seemed already lost until sub striker Villallibre equalized on 90th minute, and what happened on extra time is a story of its own. It was on neutral ground, Messi lost his temper and got the historic red card.

Both will continue in the cup next week after having relatively easy games this midweek with rotated squads.

Barcelona have been critizized by everyone this season, and for a good reason, but there has been a lot of improvement also in their performances this year. A look at results:

They have lost points twice in this run, both results very unfair. They have also been away from for the last 8 games and surely will feel relieved to finally have a home game!

Bilbao are materialwise perhaps a bit better than Valladolid, Granada and Elche, but usually the improvement on managerial change does not last for weeks, and this is about time to come back to reality. They are a very limited bottom-half club.

At injury front no major change at either camp from recent games, Busquets is suspended from Barca but Pjanic is more than adequate replacement, and as long as Koeman puts Alba, De Jong, Pedri and Messi in I am not worried of them winning this.

At Athletic there are mostly defensive doubts.

Koeman is the worse manager of these two, Lenglet is a liability as a defender and there is a positive feel at Athletic, but the basic fact remains that Barcelona will dominate this game from the start and continue their good run.

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本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

在与埃尔切的比赛后，从加里塔诺到马塞利诺的管理方式发生了巨大的变化，感觉全世界都在支持竞技队。不能真的责怪他们，我明白机会似乎很短暂。

这里是最新的联赛结果，我不会为之疯狂。在主场输给巴萨是理所应当的，在一场与赫塔菲势均力敌的比赛中表现出色。在他们的客场之旅中，毕尔巴鄂是臭名昭著的，而且本赛季他们也是统计上最弱的客场球队，我们不能仅仅责怪加里塔诺。9场比赛中的一场胜利，回到9月份对阵另一家巴斯克球队埃瓦尔。

至少可以说，马塞利诺的赛程很艰难，除此之外，他还在超级杯上遇到了皇家马德里和巴塞罗那，并且取得了出色的成绩!

然而，与巴塞罗那的决赛似乎已经输了，直到替补前锋比利亚利布在第90分钟扳平比分，加时赛发生的事情本身就是一个故事。比赛是在中立场地进行的，梅西大发脾气，得到了历史性的红牌。

在周中进行了相对轻松的比赛后，两人都将继续参加下周的杯赛。

巴塞罗那本赛季受到了所有人的批评，理由很充分，但是他们在今年的表现上也有了很大的进步。看看结果:

他们在这轮比赛中丢了两分，结果都很不公平。他们在过去的8场比赛中都没有参加比赛，现在终于有一场主场比赛了，他们一定会感到很欣慰!

毕尔巴鄂可能比巴利亚多利德、格拉纳达和埃尔切好一点，但管理层变动的改善通常不会持续数周，现在是回到现实的时候了。他们是一个非常有限的下半部分俱乐部。

在伤病方面，两队最近几场比赛都没有太大的变化，布斯克茨将被停赛，但帕亚尼奇是足够的替代者，只要科曼把阿尔巴、德容、佩德罗和梅西放进来，我就不担心他们会赢得比赛。

科曼是这两位教练中最糟糕的一位，伦格特在防守方面是个负担，在竞技方面也有积极的感觉，但基本的事实仍然是，巴塞罗那将从一开始就主宰这场比赛，并继续他们的良好表现。

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