Seven lions going for another Supercopa

Athletic Club face Real Madrid at 21:00 CET on Thursday night in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals.

The reigning Supercopa champions are the first obstacle as the Lions attempt to win a trophy which many current first-team players have already lifted.

Seven lions were part of the squad that won the competition in 2015: Ibai Gómez, Iñaki Williams, Iker Muniain, Iñigo Lekue, Oscar De Marcos, Mikel Balenziaga and Iago Herrerín.

With that Super Cup win in August 2015 –the second in the Club’s history– the Rojiblancos lifted a trophy for the first time in 31 years.

In the first leg, Athletic defeated FC Barcelona 4-0 in Bilbao thanks to a hat-trick by forward Aritz Aduriz and an incredible strike from the halfway line by Mikel San José.

The Lions sealed the deal with a 1-1 draw in Barcelona. Leo Messi initially put Barça ahead, but Aduriz equalised to ensure Athletic took the trophy back to Bilbao.

Full-backs De Marcos and Balenziaga played the entire 90 minutes in both matches, Lekue made his first-team debut when he came on as a substitute in the 66th minute at The Cathedral, while Herrerín, Ibai, Williams and Muniain didn’t get any minutes – the latter two due to injury.