Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao Odds & Preview – Spanish Super Cup Semifinals

• It’s the Spanish Super Cup semifinals this week with Real Madrid meeting Athletic Bilbao in semifinal 2
• They meet in Malaga on Thursday, with Los Blancos looking for their 12th Super Cup title
• We list the odds, preview the game and offer some best bets here

The Spanish Super Cup has, since 2019–20, been contested by four teams – the winners and runners-up of La Liga and the winners and runners-up of the Copa del Rey. Prior to that, it was played between the winners of those two competitions. Unsurprisingly, it has been dominated by Barcelona, who have won it 13 times, and Real Madrid who have triumphed on 11 occasions. We’ll preview the second semifinal between Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao below.

In this season’s mini-tournament, Real Sociedad takes on Barcelona while Real Madrid plays Athletic Bilbao, and we’ll look at the latter of these two ties, which is scheduled to take place in Malaga on Thursday, January 14, KO 3:00 pm EST. The final takes place on Sunday, January 17 in Seville.

We list the odds below, preview the game, and offer the best bet.

Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao Odds

All odds taken Jan 12 at DraftKings

Filomena Does Its Worst in Spain

Real and Athletic travel to Malaga’s Estadio La Rosaleda to play their Spanish Super Cup semifinal on Thursday, with Spain still feeling the effects of Storm Filomena, which caused travel chaos and the postponement of some matches at the weekend. Bilbao’s match in Madrid against leaders Atletico Madrid was one of those that fell victim to the weather but Real did make it to a snowbound Pamplona to play Osasuna on a frozen pitch, where they ended up drawing 0-0.

© @SergioRamos x Spanish Super Cup
🚩 14 matches (more than any other @RealMadrid player in history)
🏆 4 titles#RealMadrid | #RMSuperCopa pic.twitter.com/s036lHCZVb

— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) January 12, 2021

An added difficulty, which may impact Real’s ability to prepare for Thursday’s game, is that they faced delays in returning home to Madrid. After having dropped two points at the weekend and therefore missing the chance to leapfrog Atleti at the top of La Liga, Los Blancos will be keen to return to winning ways.

Zidane Under Pressure

As a result of missing out against Osasuna, it is fair to assume Real coach Zinedine Zidane will put out a competitive team on Thursday with the ultimate aim of adding to the club’s 11 Super Cups; something that may buy the coach more time out of the hot seat after a difficult season in which there have been loud calls for him to be replaced.

🗣️ 𝙂𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚#BiziAmetsa #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/VVA06tTjZx

— Athletic Club (@Athletic_en) January 11, 2021

The ultra-high standards by which Real are judged means that 11 wins from 18 games this season is seen as a poor return. The Bilbao Lions may benefit from a free weekend but it has not been an easy season for them either and they have, so far, looked unlikely to improve on their 11th place finish in 2019-20. Neither have they been able to benefit from the boost of making it to the 2020 Copa del Rey final –  a final that was never played due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao Head-to-Head Stats

Long-time Rivals

In one of the longest-running rivalries in Spanish soccer, Real and Athletic have played each other a total of 234 times with Madrid winning 116 times and Bilbao 74. Their most recent meeting, in mid-December, ended in a 3-1 victory for Real Madrid – goals coming from Karim Benzema (2) and Toni Kroos –  and, in fact, Zidane’s men are unbeaten in their last six against Athletic, winning three of the last four.

⚽👌 Hard work in Málaga! #RMSuperCopa | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/mhsTcy2XBw

— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) January 11, 2021

According to reports in the Spanish press, Luka Jovic and Dani Carvajal are both available again to Zidane for this game but are unlikely to be risked, while Eden Hazard, Mariano Diaz, and Martin Odegaard are all still expected to miss out through injury. For Bilbao, Peru Nolaskoain definitely misses the game through injury while manager Marcelino may save a fit-again Yeray Alvarez for La Liga action and ease him in gradually over the next few weeks.

🏃 Gearing up for the #Supercopa semi-final 🏆

⏳ The showdown 🆚 @realmadriden is fast approaching (Thurs. 21:00 CET)#BiziAmetsa #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/BfzkKXyOLc

— Athletic Club (@Athletic_en) January 11, 2021

Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao Best Bet

In terms of form, Real Madrid has drawn two of their last three La Liga games – against both Elche and Osasuna – while Athletic await their first win under Marcelino after losing 3-2 to Barcelona in his opening game in charge. The Lions have won only three in their last ten and it was as a result of this underwhelming form that Marcelino was brought in to replace Gaizka Garitano in the first place.

Therefore it is hard to make a case for a Bilbao win, especially with Zidane’s need for a win being so great, and there could be a few goals here as Real look to make their extra quality count.

Picks: Real Madrid to win (-150), Over 3.5 goals (+250)