At the Reino de Leon, the duel in the Copa del Rey between Cultural Leonesa and Atletico Madrid is on Thursday evening. The bet is a place in the eighth finals of the Spanish cup tournament. The visitors from Madrid are of course the towering favorite, but the home club is out for a stunt.
Cultural Leonesa:
Third-class Cultural Leonesa has never played a leading role on Spanish football in its 96-year history, but that could change in the coming years. The team is, just like the Belgian Eupen, in the hands of the Aspire Foundation from Qatar, and therefore has a large number of oil dollars at its disposal. With a provisional second place, Cultu is fully in the race for promotion to the Segunda Division.
Cultural Leonesa is indeed a team to be reckoned with. What is called: over the last five seasons, the team with 273 competition goals is the third most accurate club in Spanish professional football. Only usual suspects FC Barcelona (467) and Real Madrid (411) scored more often. Of course you also have to take the level of the opponents into account, but it does say a lot about the football philosophy of coach Jose Manuel Aira. Cultural Leonesa is also doing well this season with only five goals in ten home games. Partly because of this, the team has been unbeaten in Reino de Leon for about a year and a half. The last time that Cultural Leonesa had to bow to its own audience was also in the Copa del Rey, after a 0-1 defeat to FC Barcelona.
Atletico Madrid:
Atletico Madrid is struggling with a light winter dip. First the men of trainer Diego Simeone saw the Spanish Supercopa pass their nose, after they had to recognize their superior in the Madrid Real Madrid under penalty of the Saudi sun. Subsequently, the red and white were beat 2-0 by Eibar last weekend, which meant they had to quit the Spanish title fight for the time being. The players do their best every match, but the Madrilenians are slightly less on all fronts this year than in previous years. Los Colchoneros lacks a real goal getter, and they are particularly vulnerable in away matches. Injury from players such as Diego Costa, Thomas Lemar, Koke, Keiran Trippier and Jose Maria Gimenez does not help either.
Simeone realizes that Atletico Madrid can use a boost, and therefore intends to rely largely on the well-known names. Reserve goalkeeper Adan and youth players Sergio Camello and Manu Sanchez will most likely be the only surprising names in the basic line-up.
PREDICTION: Over 2,5 goals @ 1,71
