Luis Núñez-Villavearán

Updated Wednesday, February 28, 2024-14:02

  • Chronicle Mallorca surprises Real on penalties thanks to Greif and will be in La Cartuja

Some believe that this match is the early final of this exciting Copa del Rey.

They are, possibly, those who also thought that

Real Sociedad

would be in La Cartuja on April 6.

Football is as beautiful as it is unpredictable and this tournament has already seen many surprises throughout its history.

There is something, however, that does not surprise either Atlético de Madrid or

Cholo

and that is the reliability of

Ernesto Valverde

's teams .

The txingurri has created the best work in his past as a rojiblanco.

Athletic

Club

flies this year.

"They are a team that plays very well, that has had a good season and is going to be a tough opponent," conceded the Argentine coach in the press conference prior to the Cup tie.

We are talking about the best performance of the squad in the eight seasons in which Valverde has been sitting on the red and white bench.

Athletic

, in 32 games, has accumulated 20 wins, 7 draws and only five losses

.

We are talking about a performance of 69.8%, while the best season until the current one had been 2015/16 in which the team reached a performance of 58%.

We are talking about 32 wins, 12 draws and 18 losses in 32 games.

At the scoring level,

Athletic

has had more prolific seasons with the

Txingurri

on the bench, but it is worth noting that this year, for example, the Bilbao team has the same number of goals as last season although it has played 13 fewer games.

Simeone

praised the virtues of a rival squad that has many weapons to do damage, but in which young people stand out above all for their quality and speed.

"If we put a lot of pressure and they go out with their sprinters, their plan will come out," Simeone declared.

This time, it is presumed that the two

Williams

brothers will be able to form together against the mattress squad.

Without his legend

Who Atlético de Madrid will not be able to count on is

Antoine Griezmann

, their best player.

"Antoine is not going to participate in the game. We need him to recover well. He made a great effort, but we have the peace of mind that his teammates will do it in the best way," said Simeone.

Without

Griezmann

, Atlético loses not only goals, he has 18 this season, but assists, seven in all competitions.

Saving the duel against Las Palmas, where the colchoneros were a cyclone, Atlético had slightly lowered the great scoring average that it had exhibited in 2023.

Aguirre

's Mallorca

, "a coach with a lot of experience", according to Cholo

,

is already waiting for a red and white team in the final on April 6 in La Cartuja.

For the Argentine, the people of Bilbao have a "significant advantage" with the 0-1 in the first leg, but he hopes to "show tomorrow all the good things we imagine."