From San Mamés Madrid gets a deserved elimination in the Cup and some irrefutable conclusions: this squad is not enough for everything, without Benzema the potential remains in the middle and the team climbs to the Cup almost by force. Even this one, which seemed so within her reach. It is endemic evil. Athletic, on the other hand, went for it all, because in order to idealize a model that San Mamés not only supports but also feels part of, results must also be offered. Sometimes he spends a lot for the little he earns. Not this time, when Madrid believed they could beat him in any way, even playing extremely poorly.
Come January, there are no longer any mistakes in Madrid. Better a false nine (Asensio or Isco) than two false nines (Jovic and Mariano) when Benzema is missing, may God keep him for many years. Better two hungry Brazilians (Rodrygo and Vinicius), still battered by jet lag, than two galactic men who came to almost nothing (Hazard and Bale). Better those always known than the substitutes to know. Nor is Athletic, a two-speed team, capable of playing the allegro marked by the Williams or the adagio ordered by Muniain, transformed from a rebellious footballer into a natural leader of the team. Now run less and play more.
Forced by San Mamés, which rightly demands a tremendous game, Athletic did not wait for Madrid this time. He pressed him upstairs, took the ball away from him to prevent the white midfielders from lowering the volume of the game and he came in first and second instance. From there he created the first two chances, two shots by Dani García (one deflected by Courtois and the other by Nacho), a player who is for something else but who was dragged up by the waves unleashed by the sides of Athletic and the small of the Williams, the only representative of the Nicos generation, along with Aguirrezabala, in eleven. Madrid, with a disruptive line-up due to casualties and Ancelotti’s lack of confidence on the bench, had a hard time catching on. Asensio, who already had an experience like nine hits with the National Team, fled the area. It is neither in maximum nor his thing is to live between two centrals. And Alaba, who played more than 400 games as a left back at Bayern, was shy before the unsettling presence of Nico Williams, bullet train. Too bad his injury before the break reduced the average speed of Marcelino’s team.
He didn’t find Vinicius either. Athletic had already faced Madrid three times and had been warned about the Brazilian, whom Dani García wanted the public to throw at him before each fall. That way the Brazilian does not have a pass, who hits (now more) and misses (now less) but does not shrink.
So Madrid spent a cramped first half, loading their fantastic central defenders with work (a new display from Militao, a new lesson in loyalty from Nacho), with no way out through the center or on the flanks. And above all, without Benzema, fourth midfielder and first finisher in one piece. Hardly long possessions were recorded, which always anesthetize a fiery rival like Athletic, and even fewer shots. Madrid did not look for the moment, they wanted to wait for it. And being in those he found maximum risk losses very close to Courtois.
Before the break, Athletic approached twice more, from the left, Muniain’s shuttle band. The captain crashed a shot on the side of the net and had no precision in a thread from the edge of the area. The 0-0 with which his team went to the locker room was unpleasant for the Biscayans.
What he did not find in the preparation was sought by Athletic from set pieces, another of his great assets. Two specialists, Íñigo Martínez and Raúl García, were close to the goal while Madrid continued without updating: they neither sent nor counterattacked, they only protected themselves, yes, with remarkable efficiency. Having lost the match of intensity, he intended to win the match of resistance.
Ancelotti then changed false nine, Isco for Asensio, who went to the right, and Vinicius, overcome by fatigue, to the dugout. The most difficult yet. The mission to score in a terribly hostile scenario without his two best scorers. The perfect day to walk on the coals. The impression remained that there was no other plan in Madrid than to wait for Athletic to exhaust himself, for that torrent of enthusiasm on the back of a ferocious public to run out of fuel. In short, a subdued team like few times this season but which was lifting Athletic’s fatigue. Playing on the foot, without breaking lines, with a better Asensio, he ended up keeping the ball and even created the best chance of the game, which Casemiro missed, with a bitten shot and without placement.
And there, when he seemed to stick his head out, Berenguer’s goal came, in a cross shot after cutting Nacho. The centrals had endured too much. The goal was a reward for the abnegation of one team and the laziness of another, that every time they step on the Cup they end up looking the other way.