Athletic Club to face Real Madrid in the Supercopa semi-finals

Athletic Club will take on Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup. The match will be held on January 14 in Málaga (La Rosaleda), with kick-off at 21:00 CET.

Barcelona and Real Sociedad will face off in the other semi-final. The winner of each fixture will go onto the final in Seville, which will take place at the Estadio de La Cartuja on Sunday, January 17.

It will be the first time Athletic have played Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup. Until now, the lions have only faced FC Barcelona in the competition, having done so on three occasions.

The first Supercopa match between the two sides came back in 1983-84, with Javier Clemente’s lions losing 3-2 on aggregate. The second took place in 2009-10, with Joaquín Caparrós on the bench for Athletic, and that time Barça were 5-1 victors across the two legs.

However, the lions managed to repay the favour in 2015-16 with the same aggregate score. Athletic won 4-0 at San Mamés and drew 1-1 in Barcelona. Aritz Aduriz scored a total of four goals and Mikel San José also chipped in with a goal over the two matches. It was the second time Athletic lifted the trophy, winning in 1984-85 after doing the LaLiga and Copa double the season before.

Athletic also have the Copa Eva Duarte on their mantelpiece, the precursor competition to the current Supercopa. The lions won it by defeating Atlético Madrid in 1949-50. Athletic won the second leg of the final 2-0 thanks to a Telmo Zarra brace, while the first leg was an incredible 5-5 draw.