Athletic vs Real Madrid, San Mamés and the Copa
Athletic vs Real Madrid, San Mamés and the Copa
Ahead of the Copa clash between the Lions and los Blancos at The Cathedral, Andoni Goikoetxea revisits the thrilling tie between the two teams in 1985
On April 3 1985, San Mamés played host to the second leg of a thrilling last-16 Copa tie between Athletic Club and Real Madrid. The Rojiblancos lost 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu in the first leg and needed to mount a comeback to advance in the competition. A packed Catedral was the perfect place for the Lions to do it.
The match, which was broadcast live on ETB1 (Basque Television), ended 2-0 and Javier Clemente’s side went through to the quarter-finals.
Andoni Goikoetxea, centre-back and captain of the time, played a pivotal role in Athletic’s success, kicking off the comeback with a 25-yard screamer in the 10th minute. He sat down with the Club to talk about his memories of the match and San Mamés on that day.
“Real Madrid have always had a great squad. After the 1-0 loss at Santiago Bernabéu we had to mount a comeback at San Mamés. And we did it,” Goikoetxea said.
“We levelled the tie early. But the boost was tremendous. We showed no mercy. We felt strong, we had a great squad and we went out to win the tie.”
Nonetheless, the defender admitted there were several wobbles throughout the match, higlighting the role The Cathedral played in carrying the players through to the end.
He added: “In the moments of weakness, of which there were many, the fans gave us a boost. You feel that, and we felt it a lot in the time when we were playing at San Mamés.”
Patxi Salinas scored the decisive goal four minutes into extra-time, finishing with a low drive in the box after a set-piece.
This Thursday (21:30), Athletic will try to repeat the euphoria experienced in April 1985 in Bilbao, this time in the quarter-finals and in a single-leg match at San Mamés.