Spanish Other
2010-05-19 - Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid
A Sports Betting Pick by Pantocrator
Football : Copa Del Rey Final.
Venue: Camp Nou (Barcelona)
Wednesday, 19th May 2010. Kickoff 21:30
European club football season is drawing to a close with another cup final - this time it's the Copa Del Rey in Spain.
Sevilla
It's the last chance for Sevilla to mark an overall poor 2009/10 campaign with a trophy.
Antonio Alvarez men only just narrowly jumped on the Champions League train thanks to a 3-2 victory at the week-end against Almeria. Substitute Rodri added time heroics gave Sevilla the desired ticket to next seasons top tier competition.
But the Andalucian side should still be thankful to Mallorca, whose lack of quality and squad depth eventually proved decisive.
Sevilla's highlight of the Copa Del Rey campaign has been the elimination of Barcelona. Although the final outcome was determined on the away goals rule - it does not make the achievement any less significant.
It's been a very tough season for Sevilla in regard of injured players. Andalucians are without Luis Fabiano, who is troubled by muscular problems. Alvaro Negredo is suspended. This makes veteran Frederic Kanoute the only reliable option for Alvarez up front.
Defensive line is heavily hurt by the absence of Fazio,Navarro and Dragutinovic.
Atletico Madrid
Atletico is looking to make an unlikely double by bringing home the second title of the season. Just 7 days after their triumph in Hamburg Quique Sanchez Flores' are at the doorsteps of Copa Del Rey final.
Atleti used a B-Squad in the last matchday of La Liga. The home fixture against Getafe was absolutely irrelevant for los Colchoneros and expectedly finished 0-3 in favor of the more motivated side.
Atletico had an easier path to the final then Sevilla still went through a couple of scary moments. Recreativo and Celta de Vigo both went close to eliminating Colchoneros.
The successful march to the Europa League title has given Atletico the right level of confidence to go on and reach the Copa del Rey final.
Quique Flores in a much better situation then his counterpart and can rely on all of his best players to feature. Only goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo and another youngster Borja are out.
Betting advice
With all injury concerns that Sevilla is facing here - I am leaning towards the fresher and "healthier" Atletico side.
The Europa League triumph should have given Colchoneros the right emotional impulse.
With Sevilla being heavily involved in the domestic La Liga battles for the Champions League qualification - Atletico may just prove too aggressive.
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
Take Atletico Madrid (0) @ 1.97 with Bet365
