The massive rotation applied by Marcelino at the Camp Nou ended in a landslide defeat. Barça put the same ones into Athletic that Athletic had put into Real a week before. The final 4-0, with two goals on the verge of the 90th minute, seemed exaggerated for what was seen at grass level, although it is true that the lions were outclassed from start to finish by a team that is on a roll. The departure of the questioned Dembélé, received with more whistles than applause by the Barça fans themselves, in substitution of Ferran suddenly cut off the Bilbao aspirations of leveling the until then 1-0.
The rojiblanco coach, as shown by his starting eleven, prioritized the Cup over the League. A good part of the starting block stayed on the bench. The less usual, applied above all in the containment, knew how to maintain the type for many minutes based on a good defense. Aubameyang, however, spoiled his plans by opening the scoring relatively close to half-time with his first shot on goal.
The Asturian coach’s plan from then on, probably before too, consisted of gradually giving in to some of the starting theorists as the minutes passed. The pulse remained more or less firm until minute 73 when Dembélé made it 2-0. The rest was over.
Xavi faced Athletic’s visit with his starting block. The Barça coach only made two changes with respect to the team that had just eliminated Napoli from the Europa League. Dani Alves came on at right-back in place of the suspended Jordi Alba, although it was Dest who played left-back, and Gavi in midfield instead of De Jong.
Only four repeaters
Marcelino, as could be sensed at the gates of the second leg of the Cup semifinal against Valencia in Mestalla, once again opted for a massive rotation. Up to seven lions who started a week earlier in the derby against Real in San Mamés remained on the bench. Unai Simón, Vivian, Vesga and Raúl García were the only repeaters.
Barça, currently going through its best moment of the season, took the initiative of the game from the very kick-off against a Bilbao team that withdrew at the first opportunity. The lions remained firm behind, but they barely had the capacity to go well on the attack, well on the counterattack. The good news in a red-and-white key came in the form of a shortage of local chances against the well-protected framework of Unai Simón.
Piqué was the first to finish off with some danger. Gavi pardoned shortly after in a shot from close range after a great pass from Ferran. Marcelino’s men appeared through Ter Stegen’s domains around 20 minutes into the match. Zarraga, Vesga and Villalibre had their options with a move between this last lion and Araujo inside the Barça area for the controversy.
Everything seemed controlled by the visiting side when Aubameyang appeared to finish off a ball sent by Piqué with a header to the crossbar at the bottom of Unai Simón’s goal. The 1-0 came nine minutes before the break. Athletic was forced to change its approach to try to, at least, level the contest. Iñigo Martínez and Sancet came on for Yeray and Raúl García after halftime.
The lions took a step forward against a Barça that had no major problems in containing the visitors’ creative attempts. Neither of the two teams, in such a situation, soon had scoring options. Busquets and Ferran were the first to finish off in the second half.
Xavi then decided to bring on De Jong and Dembélé. Marcelino opted at the same time to put in Dani García and Nico Williams. The youngest of the brothers stood on the left wing and Serrano moved to the right. Bilbao’s attempt to take a step forward was severely slowed down.
Dembélé, in one of his first interventions, left Lekue and beat Unai Simón with a powerful shoe. The 2-0 with a little over a quarter of an hour to go, ended the hopes of leveling the match for Athletic who, with Iñaki Williams already on the pitch, conceded two more goals a breath from the end. Luuk de Jong and Memphis, recently left, had time and skill to beat Unai Simón. The Cup awaits.