Copa Del Rey Final
Today sees the final of the Copa Del Rey at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid between Getafe and Valencia.
Both teams have had disappointing seasons in the league with Getafe sitting 12th in the table and well off the pace for a European spot via the league and Valencia in even worse shape in 16th position and only 5 points of the drop zone with 6 games to go.
Ronald Koeman the Valencia coach is under extreme pressure and even a win tonight may not guarantee his job come the end of the season with several high profile candidates being lined up.
Though both teams have struggled in the league their cup form has been good with Getafe reaching the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup and only going out on away goals after extra time to Bayern Munich the tournament favourites, before that they enjoyed a fine 1-1 draw in the first leg of that game and in the previous rounds beat Benfica of Portugal home and away.
Also in the UEFA Cup they hae beaten the likes of Andelecht and AEK Athens at home and Spurs away so are to be respected in one off games.
Valencia`s season on the other hand has been inconsistent to say the least, they had disastrous Champions League campaign and were beaten 3-0 at home by Villareal on the first day of the season and 5-1 at home by Real Madrid in the early part of the campaign but they have also won 3-2 at the Bernabeu in recent weeks to go along with the 4-3 aggregate win over Barcelona in the semi finals of the Copa Del Rey so it is hard to predict which Valencia will turn up tonight.
I am going for a Getafe win tonight as i feel they will have recovered from their unfortunate defeat to Bayern in the UEFA Cup and will want to end the season to show something for their efforts and qualify for Europe next term into the bargain.
I feel Valencia will be more interested in their survival in La Liga and the coming game at the weekend at Bilbao as relegation for a club as big as Valencia is unthinkable. Also i was watching Spanish TV this morning and saw the Valencia players as they were boarding the team bus and they looked a group of very tense young men, though this may not be the most scientific approach i cannot help but think the Getafe camp will be the more relaxed of the two and i am sure their coach Michael Laudrup will have his team ready for the occasion.
Getafe are currently 21/10 with Totesport and that is a very good price for me to get involved with tonight.
Good luck with whatever you decided.
Silverfox.
