Barcelona vs Atl. Madrid prediction: SPAIN: Copa del Rey betting tips on match 2025-02-24 20:30.
[p]Barcelona and Atlético Madrid take a break from battling Real Madrid in La Liga to contest this Copa del Rey semi-final first leg, as the hosts aim to win the competition for the first time since 2020/21. This is their second semi-final appearance since then, but they’ve cruised to this stage with three victories by at least four-goal margins, including a 5-0 thrashing of Valencia in the quarter-finals. [/p]
[p]While hosting the first leg could give them an advantage given that the Blaugrana are unbeaten in their last five matches at Estadi OlĂmpic LluĂs Companys (W4, D1), that run started after AtlĂ©tico beat them 2-1 there in La Liga in December. On a more positive note, Barcelona did win the previous three home H2Hs and haven’t lost any of their last four such Copa meetings on their own patch in which they took to the field (W3, D1), with a 3-0 defeat awarded against them in 2000 after they refused to compete because of a shortage of players![/p]
[p]This is Atlético’s second consecutive Copa de Rey semi-final appearance following last season’s painful 4-0 loss on aggregate to Athletic Bilbao. They come into this encounter on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run in all competitions (W5, D3) having defeated Valencia 3-0 on Saturday to briefly top La Liga before Barcelona beat Las Palmas 2-0 to overtake them a few hours later.[/p]
[p]Los Colchoneros have comfortably progressed to this stage, with the first four of their five victories in the competition this term coming away from home, albeit all against lower-league sides. Untroubled during their quarter-final against Getafe (5-0), Diego Simeone’s men haven’t conceded a Copa goal in 2025 (W3), although they haven’t kept a clean sheet in an away H2H since a 0-0 draw in May 2021 (W1, L3).[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Lamine Yamal has completed the scoring after the 55th minute in Barcelona’s last two Copa outings and is unbeaten in two prior appearances against Atlético (W2). After scoring in his side’s last two domestic cup games, Alexander Sørloth has gone on to net twice after the 80th minute across Atlético’s last four fixtures in all competitions. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Barcelona have scored inside 25 minutes in all three of their Copa matches this term, while Atlético have netted from the 75th minute onwards in four of their five.[/p]
[p][i]Written by John Pennington[/i][/p]