Copa del Rey Round of 16: Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid betting preview

The Copa del Rey, also known as the Spanish Cup, is into the Round of 16 this week, and boy, have we been blessed with a monster clash. On Thursday, Atletico Madrid will welcome city rivals Real Madrid to the Metropolitano Stadium, with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line. The kick-off is scheduled for 3:30 PM EST. Both sides beat a pair of lower-tier clubs in the Round of 32 to advance to this stage of the competition. Below, we’ll discuss some Copa del Rey history for Atleti and Real while previewing the match.

Copa del Rey history for Atletico, Real

Although Barcelona is the most successful club in Copa del Rey history with 31 titles, Real Madrid has also had their fair share of trophies in the Spanish Cup, lifting the grand prize 20 times and also finishing as a runner-up on 20 occasions. As for Atletico, they’ve won nine Copa del Reys and been finalists 19 times overall. The reigning winners of the competition are Los Blancos.

Atletico Madrid

Atleti is having a respectable campaign this term, sitting in fifth in LaLiga but a whole 11 points off league leaders Girona, who is one of the biggest surprises of Europe. Diego Simeone’s men are just 2-1-2 in their last five league games and did lose to Real 5-3 last week in the Supercopa de Espana semifinals. Over the weekend however, Atletico did beat Lugo 3-1 in the Copa del Rey.

Angel Correa quickly put his side ahead in the opening minutes before the hosts equalized. It was all Atleti from that point on though, with Dutch international Memphis Depay scoring a brace in the second half, with both goals coming only eight minutes apart from each other. 

Up top, the leading catalysts for Atletico have been Antoine Griezmann with 11 goals and Alvaro Morata with 12. These two have formed a lethal partnership in the final third. Memphis is very capable of producing the goods too and showed just that last weekend. The hosts are sitting at +175 odds at 888sport.

Real Madrid

While it’s still early in the LaLiga campaign, it does look like Real will regain their status as the kings of the Spanish top flight after losing the title to Barcelona last term. Carlo Ancelotti’s men are 15-3-1 and only a point behind Girona with a game in hand. Los Blancos also just beat Barca in the Supercopa de Espana final on Sunday by a score of 4-1.

Vinicius Junior was the star of the show in this fixture, scoring a hat trick in the first half alone. Brazilian counterpart Rodrygo also added another in the second half to seal the deal. When it comes to the Copa del Rey, Madrid took down Arandina earlier in the month behind goals from Brahim Diaz, Joselu, and Rodrygo. 

Los Blancos is riding a 19-game unbeaten streak and their only defeat in 2023-24 came against you guessed it, Atletico. That was way back in September of last year. Needless to say, Madrid’s form is absolutely remarkable and a victory on Thursday would take them one step closer to another piece of hardware. Real has plus odds for this match at all soccer betting sites.