Athletic took advantage of yesterday’s day to train early in the morning in Lezama and later make the trip by plane to Saudi Arabia. The lions, who barely had time to visit their concentration hotel, will begin tomorrow the defense of the Super Cup title won last year in Seville after defeating first Real Madrid and then Barça. Atlético de Madrid, current league champions, will be his rival on this occasion.
Although it seems that Athletic has not changed much from January 2021 to this first month of 2022, the truth is that there are significant differences. At that time, Marcelino had not had time to work and get to know his squad in depth, since his arrival on the bench at San Mamés took place on January 3. The people from Bilbao had only faced Barça in San Mamés with the Asturian coach, with a 2-3 defeat, before embarking on their adventure in the Super Cup.
Three lions that formed that night of January 14 in Malaga in Marcelino’s starting eleven will not be safe tomorrow against Atlético. Capa has not made his debut this season due to a technical decision and Nuñez and Vencedor have stayed in Bilbao injured. The contest of Raúl García, the main protagonist of that elimination of the meringues by scoring both Athletic goals in the semifinals, cannot be taken for granted given the emergence of Sancet.
Yeray, who except for surprise will repeat tomorrow with Iñigo Martínez in the axis of the rear, reduces to two the absences regarding the line-up of the final against Barça with the doubt of Raúl García in force. In Athletic, in other words, in that Super Cup the fixed block of the team that remains more or less similar to today, losses already commented on the sidelines, is made up of Unai Simón; Iñigo Martínez, Balenziaga, De Marcos, Dani García, Muniain and Iñaki Williams. Lekue, Berenguer, Vesga, Villalibre and Morcillo, currently on loan to Valladolid, also repeated in both games, but replacing a teammate.
-The new ones-
One year after that pleasant surprise in the Super Cup, new players began to appear in Marcelino’s plans and line-ups. With Yuri absent due to injury both then and now; The Asturian coach has been giving entry both to the squad and at times to the team to different players trained in the Lezama quarry.
Nico Williams and Vivian are the ones who broke through with the most force in Athletic’s line-ups at the start of this season. Also the young goalkeeper Agirrezabala, although in his case due to the forced absence of Unai Simón, the undisputed starter at this point even with the Spanish team.
Sancet, despite having made his debut a few years ago at the hands of Berizzo, has also started to explode this season. His great start to the League, cut short by an untimely injury in Vigo, has continued again with the start of 2022. His three goals against Osasuna in El Sadar remain there.
Zarraga, who started at Bilbao Athletic last season, has also established himself in the first team. On Sunday, without going any further, he replaced Vencedor, one of the important men at Athletic today given his injury in Mendizorrotza. The getxotarra aims to start tomorrow. Nico Serrano and Petxa, this summer from La Real, are also starting to accumulate minutes.
These registrations have overlapped in time with the departures of Herrerín, Unai López, Ibai, Kenan Kodro, Córdoba and Morcillo, among others.