We said: Real Madrid 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
This has all of the makings of a fascinating match, and Athletic are more than capable of securing a positive result on Sunday evening. We were close to backing a draw here considering Vinicius's absence, but Bellingham's return is huge for Real Madrid, and we can see the hosts shading this match.
Read more.Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Real Madrid win with a probability of 59.43%. A draw had a probability of 22% and a win for Athletic Bilbao had a probability of 18.53%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Madrid win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.96%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.39%) and 2-1 (9.92%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.46%), while for an Athletic Bilbao win it was 0-1 (5.52%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 10.4% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Real Madrid would win this match.