Athletic Club - Sevilla FC

Athletic Club have managed to qualify for the Cup final (3-0, Javi Martínez, Llorente, Toquero) on another magical night, where the breath of San Mamés was the ideal boost to the team’s play. It will be their 36th final and the opportunity to win the 25th almost a quarter of a century after the last final, played in the 84/85 season in Madrid.

Red and white illusion with capital letters that is already overflowing in thousands of streets and squares and in thousands of localities even far from our habitat. The lion was very much a Lion and honoured the records that contemplate us with the healthy intention of extending the list of winners: the best record in a Cup match: Athletic Club 12-Celta 1 (1946-47 season), the player with the most Cup finals won (Gainza, with seven), the player with the highest number of Cup finals played (Gainza and Jose Mari Belauste with 9) and the top scorer in the history of the Cup, Zarra with 81. Gainza also holds the record for the most Cup goalscorer in a single match, eight of the twelve against Celta mentioned above, and the record for the player with the most Cup games played: 99.

Athletic Club dominated the match from start to finish. Fresh, concentrated, convinced and with clear ideas when pressing, they were the only one of the two contenders to have bought all the tickets to be in the final. If we also add to this the impressive demonstration of loyalty, desire and perseverance of the fans who packed out San Mamés and those who supported them before and during the game from outside, the outcome was the best we could have imagined.

Goose bumps and adrenaline were a constant on the bus that transported the team from the Hotel Carlton to San Mamés, what was experienced and felt in the Cathedral is difficult to describe and the laughter mixed with tears in the dressing room by the direct and indirect protagonists are sensations that leave their mark. What’s more, this time it was for the best. For the best.

On this occasion, the Club, its players, coaching staff and fans have received what we deserve because we have worked hard for it, each in our own sphere of action. The Cup finals and their circumstances will no longer be, 24 years later, a tale of grandfathers and grandmothers in which stories were passed down from generation to generation about triumphs against Real Madrid in their own Chamartín; mattresses sold to go to the final; karate after Maradona, Schuster and company were unable to digest Endika’s goal; or controls in the Madrid mountains to finish off a bad final that was stolen from us by the “little hand” Hugo Sánchez.

History will be renewed in the mouths of the new generations from 13 May thanks, as the ultimate reference, to what was done today against a team of Sevilla’s potential. And they will be able to tell them in detail, the media are making great strides, that this is an Athletic feeling in capital letters.

As if disputing a final were not enough of a prize, if things in La Liga continue along the path of normality as far as FC Barcelona is concerned, that is, finishing the league in the top three, Athletic Club, without even having disputed the final, could count on a place in the revamped UEFA Cup. A facelift that made the European body decide last year to do away with Intertoto. We have, therefore, two months of renewed excitement ahead of us before heading to Valencia or wherever.

And to achieve this, the opponent was not, a priori, the easiest. A compact opponent with proven experience in domestic and continental competitions, especially over two legs. A difficult enemy to beat, not in vain they have conceded the fewest goals in the whole of the First Division and have gone the longest in the league without conceding a goal.

A difficult opponent because we were unaware of the response that a young squad could offer to the tons of pressure and excitement that we have ingested, especially in the last month. Especially considering that the biggest disappointments when the team was taking off came in the previous two semi-finals of this decade. However, Athletic Club has shown that it knows how to compete and be competitive, that the philosophy that characterises it brings with it well-known difficulties, but that they must be taken on board not as a burden but as a unifying and energising element. Let’s face it, working well, things can be done.

The gamble, we said on Saturday, was risky and as happened in Gijón, it worked out well because the team performed well after opting to give maximum rest to the chosen players and that was also part of the success, although as the coach said in the press room, all the members of our squad would have liked to have been direct participants in the achievement.

With the aforementioned precedents, Athletic Club have put the tie on track in no time at all. Jiménez, Sevilla’s coach, said in the press room that he did not believe that the atmosphere at San Mamés had a negative influence on his team’s play, but it is undeniable that the atmosphere, for example in the warm-up, when the anthem was sung and during the course of the match, was an impressive spectacle that left even the lively fans from Seville speechless, with whom the fans even exchanged chants at the end of the match, an unmistakable sign of the good atmosphere that reigned on the pitch.

And as if that were not enough, the start of the match was pessimist-proof. Sevilla saw the difficulty of controlling the tempo of the game early on and, although they fielded a strong eleven with big players, Athletic were more and better. In the 4th minute, David López launched a free kick into the box, Llorente headed the ball in and Javi Martínez, coming from behind, shot against Palop’s body, but the rebound did not escape his grasp. Madness, episode one, and Athletic were already in the final.

Not content with that, the lion that Del Nido metaphorically predicted was going to be devoured in its entirety, from mane to tail to be more precise, was hungry and did not let Sevilla go, but rather tore it to pieces. Two of the three penalties called for during the match followed one after the other.

The third was called for by Luis Fabiano in the second half, but like Toquero’s, it gave the impression of being exaggerated by the interveners when it came to the spot-kick. Llorente, as is often the case, did have his shirt stretched in the 12th minute. Mejuto, with his neat European-style refereeing and not very committed in the high duels, did not signal anything in any of the plays. Shortly after, in the 13th minute, Orbaiz found himself with a narrow one-on-one chance against Palop that was blocked by the goalkeeper.

And as Athletic were learning, they took the next few minutes a little more calmly, but without leaving any room for manoeuvre to a Sevilla side that wanted to, but could not. Athletic conveniently combined long balls to Toquero and Llorente with balls into space on the wing or changes of direction to give their opponents a run for their money.

Predictable football, perhaps, but well-executed, and it was a football that Sevilla, who were going to eat the lion’s share and could not find a way to get their teeth into it, found difficult to get to grips with. Moreover, Athletic had a speed that Sevilla, with their flanks cancelled out, lacked.

Athletic went back to their own game to end the first half, and in what way. In the 32nd Javi Martínez headed high from a cross from the right, but he was on target one hundred and twenty seconds later. A good run from Toquero down the right ended in a cross into the box that was cleared to the left flank where Yeste parried, glanced and controlled for Llorente to head in the 2-0 despite Palop’s touch.

Double joy and change that Jiménez had already prepared: Luis Fabiano for Fazio with Renato delayed to the double pivot. In vain. It was logical and it was recorded that the league clash would have almost nothing to compare with the cup match and, as things are, if on Saturday it was Kanoute who took all the honours to take away the sleep of the Basques, a player who left San Mames four days ago with a bitter aftertaste, Gaizka Toquero, has seen his Stajanovist work rewarded with the first goal as a Rojiblanco in an important match.

Llorente, who was present for all three goals, created a good move on the edge of the area and his assist left Toquero alone in front of Palop and this time, the one-on-one ended in a goal. And between metaphor and metaphor, the Athletic fans, as visceral as they are corrosive, used synonyms to satisfy the hunger of the Sevilla president, a circumstance which he accepted with sportsmanship.

Sevilla were nothing more than a rag for the lion and their option during the first half, and almost the only shot with any danger between the posts in the course of the match, can be summed up in a shot by Navas that was easily saved by Iraizoz. Our goalkeeper wore a black uniform in homage to the legendary Jose Angel Iribar, except for the red and white socks to coincide with Sevilla, and on his boots, in addition to the number 1, he wore Chopo’s date of birth, 1 March 1943. Quite a detail.

In the second half Athletic Club read the game perfectly and did not throw away the enormous work they had done in the first half. Curiously, the nervousness in the stands grew as the minutes ticked by, perhaps because the final was at the tip of their fingers and because, given the impossibility of extra time, a goal from an opponent with a lot of gunpowder would put qualification on the brink of the precipice.

Jiménez brought out the most attacking player he had left, the only one, forced by the absurd regulation limiting the number of players to be called up in the Cup to sixteen. Capel has replaced Adriano, without any change other than the latter attempting the breakthrough.

Just in case, Athletic came out well and with a bit more space and a lack of haste, they managed to give Palop some work to do in the 58th minute through Orbaiz, 66th minute after Toquero’s run and 84th minute when his substitute faced Palop. In addition, Gurpegi substituted for the exhausted Javi Martínez and Gabilondo for David López.

Athletic were not shy when it came to moving the ball away and with good defence in strategy plays, Athletic left the list of Sevilla’s dangers in mere anecdote: a Renato bicycle kick in the 60th minute, cut out by Ocio and a header wide of the post in the 76th minute. In spite of everything, nobody on the pitch was confident and the long shadow of the visitors’ quality threatened at San Mamés, perhaps because of the saying that everything is a bull to the tail.

In the end, Athletic Club reached the final with pride, good play and deservedly so. There was a party on the pitch, in the stands, in the hotel, in the whole of Bilbao and the excitement and hope went beyond Bizkaia. And the fact is that our Athletic has managed to make what seemed like a chimera become a reality. We deserved it. Congratulations to the whole red and white family for their contribution.