National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Valencia or Athletic Club that keep their silverware dream alive.
There’s little time for restitution or working hard at the training pitch these days, with both teams having played their last game less than four days ago.
Valencia form and stats
Last season, Valencia's Copa Del Rey journey ended in the final.Valencia have collected 14 points from their La Liga home games so far after 4-2-4.
Valencia drew their last game, also a home match. Almería was the opponent, 2-2 the score. Defender Gayà got the top score of the team in the match with a rating of 8.14/10. Gayà scored one goal, hit three key passes and won 5 of 6 duels.
Before that, a strong away victory at Sporting Gijon. A Copa Del Rey game.
There's a new game coming up fairly quickly for Valencia as they are travelling to their away game against Real Valladolid in the La Liga. That match is three days after this one.
Valencia have proved capable of finding the net in their games here at Estadio de Mestalla with 17 goals in 10 league matches.
Athletic Club form and stats
They also participated in Copa Del Rey last season. This ended in the semi-finals, when Valencia drew the shortest straw.Playing away, Athletic Club have won 2 games, drawn 3 and suffered 3 defeats in the La Liga this season.
Club might have something to prove in this game as they lost at home in their previous match. Real Madrid proved too strong as Athletic Club slumped to a 0-2 defeat in front of their own fans at San Mamés Barria. Berchiche was the top performer of the team in that game with a match score of 7.35. The defender Berchiche hit two key passes and won 8 of 11 duels.
Before that, the victory at home against Espanyol in the Copa Del Rey (1-0).
There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Athletic Club manager Valverde as the team has another away game coming up in only three days, this time against Celta de Vigo.
Athletic Club are not goal shy away from home in the league, finding the net 13 times in 8 away games so far. It's worth mentioning that 9 of these goals has been scored in their last three away matches. Club's defence is not exactly unbeatable as they have conceded 13 goals from these trips. There's been improvement defensively lately, as only 1 of these goals has been conceded in their last three away matches.
Head 2 Head
Previous ten meetings involving these participants: Valencia won three, Athletic Club were winners in two and we saw five draws. one game with over 2,5 goals, nine matches with less than 2,5 goals.
Top Goalscorers
  E. Cavani 5 goals |   I. Williams Arthuer 5 goals |  G. Guruzeta Rodríguez 5 goals |
Valencia missing players
Athletic Club missing players
| Valencia | Athletic Club | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 14 | Played | P | 13 | 25 | ||
| 9 | 6 | Won | W | 7 | 15 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Drew | D | 3 | 4 | ||
| 10 | 6 | Lost | L | 3 | 6 | ||
| 41 | 25 | Scored | S | 26 | 43 | ||
| 30 | 18 | Conceded | C | 14 | 20 | ||
| 100% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 92% | 92% | ||
| 76% | 71% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 77% | 64% | ||
| 64% | 71% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 62% | 44% | ||
| 28% | 36% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 46% | 32% | ||
| 8% | 14% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 15% | 12% | ||
| 60% | 57% | BTTS | BTTS | 46% | 28% | ||
| 20% | 21% | Clean Sheets | C S | 46% | 56% | ||
| 20% | 21% | Failed to Score | F T | 15% | 24% | ||
| 5.6 | 6.2 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 4.7 | 6.4 | ||
| 4.2 | 3 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 4.1 | 3.3 | ||
| 2.5 | 2.4 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.2 | 1.4 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 2 | ||
| 13.8 | 14.5 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 13.2 | 15.2 | ||
| 4.8 | 5.1 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 5.7 | 5.5 | ||
| 34% | 32% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 35% | 31% | ||
| 9.5 | 7.8 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 10.2 | 8.9 | ||
| 4 | 3.8 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.2 | 3.4 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Barcelona | 17 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 5 | 30 | 44 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 17 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 38 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 9 | 22 | 41 |
| 3 | Real Sociedad | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 28 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 38 |
| 4 | Atletico Madrid | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 27 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 11 | 31 |
| 5 | Villarreal | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 31 |
| 6 | Real Betis | 17 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 19 | 14 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 28 |
| 7 | Osasuna | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 17 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 28 |
| 8 | Athletic Club | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 25 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 26 |
| 9 | Rayo Vallecano | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 22 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 26 |
| 10 | Mallorca | 18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 10 | -1 | 25 |
| 11 | Girona | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 26 | 28 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 14 | -2 | 21 |
| 12 | Valencia | 17 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 25 | 20 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 20 |
| 13 | Espanyol | 18 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 22 | 26 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 11 | -4 | 20 |
| 14 | Almería | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 20 | 28 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 17 | -8 | 19 |
| 15 | Sevilla | 18 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 18 | 26 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 14 | -8 | 18 |
| 16 | Getafe | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 13 | -9 | 17 |
| 17 | Celta de Vigo | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 17 | 29 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 16 | -12 | 17 |
| 18 | Real Valladolid | 18 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 28 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 19 | -15 | 17 |
| 19 | Cadiz | 18 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 29 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 14 | -17 | 16 |
| 20 | Elche | 18 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 36 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 21 | -24 | 6 |
