Valencia – Athletic Bilbao, La Liga Prediction

Valencia did it – the bats are in the final with Barcelona for Copa del Rey. They played a great and very tough game with Real Betis in which they took a typical 1-0 victory in their style and demonstrated a very strong defensive performance. As for La Liga, Valencia’s and Bilbao’s places in the table are quite similar, but Valencia played many matches in the Champions League and now in the Europa League, and Copa del Rey separately.

Bilbao is still dreaming of a place in the top 7. They and Valencia have 30 points and definitely have chances. What stopped the both teams throughout the season is the huge number of draws. Valencia has 15 draws, and Bilbao has 12. Valencia are even in a series of 4 consecutive draws.

The bats played a very heavy game with Betis and, adding their heavy battles in Europe, they will hardly be the freshest team in the world. The last 2 matches between the two teams ended without a lot of goals, and because of their strong defenses, this is expected again. If the match ends 0-0 or 1-1 it will not be a surprise. Valencia has only conceded 8 goals at home and only scored 14 of 13 matches, which is just over 1 in a game per game. Prediction – Under 2.5 goals at 1.60.

• Each of Valencia’s last 5 matches ended with Under 2.5 goals
• 7 of the last 8 matches of Bilbao in all competitions were less than 2.5 goals