Athletic Bilbao vs. Barcelona: Barca Will Send Pep Guardiola out on a High Note

Barcelona will have no problem knocking off the lesser Athletic Bilbao squad in the 2012 Copa del Rey on Friday, and in doing so will send their manager Pep Guardiola out on a high note.

This contest will be Guardiola's final tilt with Barca and they'll be looking to put the cherry on top of his four successful years with the club and add a 14th trophy to the collection.

Barcelona is much too talented to fall to Bilbao without some kind of miracle, as they are superior to their opponents in controlling the pace of the game. They'll use that advantage to toy with Bilbao en route to victory.

Barca saw a disappointing end to their season, with a loss to Real Madrid which saw the end to the team's three-year run at the top of the Spanish League, followed by a loss to Chelsea in the Champions League semifinals.

Even without David Villa, Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal and Daniel Alves, Guardiola and company will be able to pull through in Friday's tilt. Back in 2009, Barcelona entered the Copa del Rey final with a patchwork defense, but were able to triumph over Bilbao. The same should be expected in 2012.

Barcelona remains without injured striker David Villa and its defense is also depleted, as Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal and Daniel Alves are all missing. Backup goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto—who has started all cup games under Guardiola—should get the nod after missing the last game of the season with an ankle injury.

For all that has been made of Barca's recent struggles, Bilbao has been worse as of late. Over their last five matches, they've been able to score not one goal. Athletic heavily relies on their ability to possess the ball and capitalize off the opportunities that come with that, but they won't be granted that luxury in the final, as Guardiola's boys love to do the same.

When Bilbao has the ball, they figure to push the tempo and pressure the goal. That won't work in this match though, as Barca will do the exact same when they have possession, catching Marcelo Bielsa's team at a disadvantage in both numbers and talent.

One of the glaring issues that Guardiola has to deal with is coming up with a way to essentially hide fill-in defender Martin Montoya, who will be playing in place of Alves. You'd have to be crazy to believe that Guardiola hasn't come up with some sort of plan, as this is his last time in charge of Barca and he'll want nothing more than to go out on top.

Montoya will have the help of Javier Mascherano and Gerard Pique, who are the perfect kind of defensemen to combat Bilbao's style of play.

And we cannot neglect to mention the electric, the legendary, one of the best players in the world, Lionel Messi. He'll be starting this match at center forward and will be looking to improve on his record-breaking season by going for the jugular of the Bilbao defense early and often. His agility and elusiveness alone could allow him to simply dribble into the back of the net if he would so choose, but instead he loves to rely on his shot to score.

While both teams have seen recent struggles as of late, Barcelona will rally around their boss one last time and provide him with the send-off he deserves for all of his services to the club.