AUSTRALIA - SOUTH KOREA

Australia, who has been since the beginning one of the title contenders, claimed a solid victory 4:0 against Indonesia in ⅛ finals and now are looking for the final stages of the tournament.

They have made an excellent Asian Cup so far with 2 victories in the first two rounds, both deservedly as they outplayed Syria and India, and then made rotations in the last game against Uzbekistan (because they were already qualified). Although they also dominated that game, they drew 1:1.

Australia is in good form, following the good performance made in Qatar WC (achieving the qualification above Tunisia and Denmark, losing against winners Argentina in ⅛ finals) and have good players in Europe such as goalkeeper Matthew Ryan (AZ).

They have shown a lot of alternatives to break defensive teams, playing from the wings, using fast football with few touches, and creating a lot of opportunities.

On the other hand, although Korea Republic is also a title contender, I see them in worse form. They already struggled to qualify in the group stage: qualified as second behind Bahrain, only won 1 game so far in regular time (Bahrain in the first round). They were lucky also to qualify as second because in the second game against Jordan, they scored the equalizer (2:2) at 91’. In the last game against Malaysia they had to score the equalizer at 83’ and then at 94’, to concede again at 105’.

In ⅛ finals they struggled to beat Saudi Arabia, as did it in penalties shootout after achieving the equalizer at 99’. All of their games have been dramatic, with goals in the ET, which surely is affecting their morale and confidence because they won’t have such luck always.

Although they have dominated several games, they have struggled to be solid and dangerous upfront. They are not being very effective upfront as we have not seen the best version of Son yet, whilst are also conceding goals with very few chances against.

They have played ET and many difficult games, so surely will have much more fatigue than Australia who did rotations in the third game and had a very easy fixture against Indonesia in ⅛ finals.

Furthermore, Australia had two more days to rest, and South Korea only had two days to prepare for this game.

Australia has quality and a much better physical condition to avoid the defeat in this match. I even see them being able to qualify.

ATHLETIC BILBAO - MALLORCA

Athletic Club is coming from two games winless so surely will be motivated to achieve the victory again.

They were in great form, playing excellent football. Generating a lot of chances, scoring a lot of goals, and with many players at their best form. The point of confidence and motivation in this team was huge, which made them rise to 5th position in the table and be in the fight for the Champions League.

At home they are particularly stronger, as they have huge fan support and players are playing with a lot of intensity there. They are the most in-form team at home at the moment, with 5 consecutive victories in their last 5 games. Also have a lot of confidence after beating and eliminating Barcelona in the Spanish Cup last week.

Next midweek they’ll play the Cup semi-finals, but I don't expect rotations here as they’ll have several days to rest and recover. I believe that also the last two results in La Liga (draw and defeat, both away) has been affected by the Cup in the midweek. But in this case they had time to rest and will be at 100% again.

On the other hand, Mallorca is in poor form in La Liga. They have won only 3 games so far and as visitors only 1. Furthermore, I think they are not very focused in La Liga: they managed to qualify to the Cup semifinals, which is a big success for them. All the games before and after a Cup game have been a draw or a defeat for them.

Their main weak point is upfront: they are struggling a lot to generate chances and also to score them. They have scored only 19 goals so far in 22 games, having the second worst attack in the league.

Striker Larin is missing a lot of chances and nobody else is able to generate danger in this team, as they are playing very defensive so need to be very effective upfront. And at the moment, this team is lacking a lot of effectiveness.

I expect Athletic to put a lot of rhythm and intensity in this match, dominating it. They will be able to generate chances enough to score, whilst Mallorca will struggle to create some danger here. Mallorca will try to hold the goalless draw as much as possible, as they did in the previous game (0:0). But Athletic playing at home will show a different version which I believe should be enough to win this fixture.

澳大利亚-韩国

澳大利亚从一开始就一直是冠军争夺者之一，在决赛中以4:0大胜印度尼西亚，现在他们正在争夺比赛的最后阶段。

到目前为止，他们在亚洲杯上表现出色，前两轮取得了2场胜利，这两场胜利都是当之无愧的，因为他们击败了叙利亚和印度，然后在最后一场对阵乌兹别克斯坦的比赛中进行了轮换(因为他们已经获得了资格)。虽然他们也统治了那场比赛，但他们1:1打平。

澳大利亚在卡塔尔世界杯上表现出色(领先突尼斯和丹麦出线，在决赛中输给了冠军阿根廷队)，状态不错，在欧洲也有优秀的球员，比如守门员马修·瑞恩(AZ)。

他们展示了很多突破防守球队的选择，从边路进攻，使用快速足球，少触球，创造了很多机会。

另一方面，虽然大韩民国也是冠军争夺者，但我认为他们的状态更差。他们在小组赛阶段就已经努力出线了:以第二名的成绩落后于巴林，到目前为止只在常规时间赢了一场比赛(巴林在第一轮)。他们很幸运地以第二名的身份晋级，因为在第二场对阵约旦的比赛中，他们在91分扳平比分(2:2)。在上一场对马来西亚的比赛中，他们不得不在83 '和94 '时扳平比分，然后在105 '时再次失球。

在决赛中，他们艰难地击败了沙特阿拉伯，在99分扳平比分后的点球大战中也是如此。他们所有的比赛都是戏剧性的，在东部联赛中进球，这肯定会影响他们的士气和信心，因为他们不会一直有这样的运气。

虽然他们已经统治了几场比赛，但他们在前场的稳定和危险方面一直很挣扎。由于我们还没有看到孙兴慜的最佳状态，他们在前场并不是很有效，同时他们也很少有机会失球。

他们打过ET和许多困难的比赛，所以肯定会比澳大利亚队更疲劳，澳大利亚队在第三场比赛中进行了轮换，在决赛中对阵印度尼西亚的比赛非常轻松。

此外，澳大利亚队还有两天的休息时间，而韩国队只有两天的准备时间。

澳大利亚有实力和更好的身体状况来避免这场比赛的失败。我甚至认为他们能够晋级。

毕尔巴鄂竞技-马略卡

竞技俱乐部刚刚经历了两场未赢的比赛，所以肯定会有动力再次取得胜利。

他们状态很好，踢得很好。创造了很多机会，进了很多球，很多球员都处于最佳状态。这支球队的信心和动力是巨大的，这使他们上升到积分榜的第5位，并为冠军联赛而战。

在主场，他们特别强大，因为他们有大量的球迷支持，球员们在那里踢得很激烈。他们是目前主场状态最好的球队，在最近的5场比赛中取得了5连胜。在上周的西班牙杯中击败并淘汰巴萨之后，我们也充满了信心。

下周中，他们将参加足总杯半决赛，但我不希望他们在这里轮换，因为他们将有几天的休息和恢复时间。我相信最近两场西甲联赛的结果(平局和失利，都是客场)也受到了周中杯赛的影响。但在这种情况下，他们有时间休息，将再次达到100%。

另一方面，马洛卡在西甲的状态不佳。到目前为止，他们只赢了3场比赛，作为客队只赢了1场。此外，我认为他们对西甲不够专注:他们勉强进入了杯赛半决赛，这对他们来说是一个巨大的成功。在杯赛之前和之后的所有比赛对他们来说都不是平局就是失败。

他们的主要弱点是前场:他们很难创造机会，也很难得分。他们在22场比赛中只进了19个球，他们的进攻在联赛中排名第二。

前锋拉林错过了很多机会，在这支球队中没有其他人能够制造威胁，因为他们非常注重防守，所以需要非常有效的前场进攻。目前，这支球队缺乏很多效率。

我希望竞技队在这场比赛中保持节奏和强度，主宰比赛。他们将能够创造足够的机会来得分，而马洛卡将努力在这里创造一些危险。马洛卡将尽可能保持0比0的平局，就像他们在上一场比赛(0:0)中所做的那样。但是在主场比赛的竞技将会展现出一个不同的版本，我相信这应该足以赢得这场比赛