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Athletic Bilbao entertain Valencia at the San Mamés in the first leg of the second semi-final fixture of the Spanish Copa del Rey on Thursday.
The hosts, finalists from the previous edition, are strong favorites to secure a place in the final, having overcome defending champions Barcelona in their round of 16 fixture and inflicted a 1-0 loss on Real Madrid in their quarter-final last week.
Valencia defeated Cadiz in their quarter-final fixture with Hugo Duro scoring the winning goal after Goncalo Guedes' strike was canceled out by a penalty from Lucas Perez.
The hosts came from behind to record a 2-1 win over Espanyol while Valencia played out a goalless draw at home against Real Sociedad in their midweek La Liga fixture.
Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia Head-to-Head
The two rivals have squared off 181 times across all competitions and the fixture has been closely contested between them. The visiting side have 71 wins to their name while the hosts are also not far behind with 66 wins. The spoils have been shared 44 times between the two rivals.
This will be the first encounter between the two sides in the Copa del Rey since the 1967 final, when Valencia recorded a 2-1 win. They last met in league action at the Mastella in September, with the game ending in a 1-1 draw, which was their third consecutive stalemate played between the two sides.
Athletic Bilbao form guide (all competitions): W-W-W-W-L
Valencia form guide (all competitions): D-W-L-D-W
Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia Team News
Athletic Bilbao
There are a couple of injury concerns for Los Leones as Unai Vencedor remains out with a thigh injury while Nico Williams is also expected to remain sidelined with a hamstring injury picked up against Real Madrid last week.
Injured: Nico Williams
Doubtful: Unai Vencedor
Unavailable: None
Valencia
Omar Alderete and Jasper Cillessen underwent light training on Wednesday but face a race against time to prove their fitness ahead of the first-leg tie. Yunus Musah joined the training session after his involvement in the World Cup qualifiers for the USA national team and is in contention to start here.
Uros Racic and Hugo Guillamón are likely to miss this game as the former is said to be suffering from a muscle injury while the latter is in recovery following surgery for a nasal bone fracture.
Injured: Gabriel Paulista
Doubtful: Uros Racic, Hugo Guillamón, Omar Alderete, Jasper Cillessen
Suspended: None
Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia Predicted XI
Athletic Bilbao Predicted XI (4-4-2): Unai Simon (GK); Mikel Balenziaga, Inigo Martinez, Yeray Alvarez, Oscar De Marcos; Oier Zarraga, Dani Garcia, Iker Muniain, Alex Berenguer; Raul Garcia, Inaki Williams
Valencia Predicted XI (4-3-2-1): Giorgi Mamardashvili (GK); Jose Gaya, Mouctar Diakhaby, Omar Alderete, Cristian Rivero; Carlos Soler, Daniel Wass, Hugo Duro; Helder Costa, Goncalo Guedes; Maxi Gomez
Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia Prediction
Athletic Bilbao have enjoyed a great run of form in 2022 and have just one loss to their name this year. They have registered wins over Barcelona and Real Madrid in their last two home games in the competition and are the favorites in the first leg.
Los Che's two losses this year have come on their travels and they might struggle to get their plan of action going against the hosts. A narrow win for Athletic Bilbao seems the likely outcome from the game.
Prediction: Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Valencia
