Cup (eighth) | Athletic 3-Barcelona 2: The Cathedral of Muniain, the hell of Barcelona

Ecstasy only comes after passion and Athletic Club touched the sky that it was denied in Arabia at its Cathedral on a day in which Muniain led a team that was much more than a Barcelona that survived clinging to Pedri. The duel was more epic than football, because Athletic deserved to liquidate it before extra time, but Barça sold its skin very dearly forcing an extension in a memorable match that ended up being liquidated by a penalty (3-2) that left Barça without options in another competition.

Barça played so badly for so long, Athletic Club was so superior throughout most of the match and football is so cruel that the resolution of the drama that took place in San Mamés was one-handed in extra time. A match that seemed to have only two solutions: either Athletic thrashed or Barça took it away in one of those caroms that make football an inexplicable madness that the surviving team gets up from the canvas by surprise and executes the final blow of the champion Exhausted. In the end, neither one thing nor the other. With suspense and epic, football was fair: Athletic won against a team that only supported a Pedri majestic. But again the veterans’ orchestra was unable to accompany the young soloist, who also lost his best partner, Ansu, at the worst moment.

If there is something that is clear when you go to San Mamés, it is that the start of the game will be a torment. It doesn’t matter that Athletic arrives, supposedly, more tired and disenchanted for having lost the Super Cup final. It doesn’t matter that Barça, delighted to have met after their umpteenth sweet defeat, appears on the field pretending to have learned the lesson. There are things that do not change. And one of them is that in Copa and La Catedral, Athletic comes out at full speed.

Nico Williams went over Jordi Alba in an almost insulting way. So much so that two minutes into the match the local team had already scored in an opening in which Barça received gunshots from port and starboard.

In that first quarter of an hour, Athletic had the game in their hands until Pedri began to appear as a lifeguard in all parts of the field.

Thanks to Pedri, Barça got its head out of the mud and in the only play in which Xavi’s team interpreted the superiority on the wing, Ferran Torres scored a goal that did not do justice to a first half in which Athletic deserved to beat Barça.

The first half ended with Ter Stegen taking goal balls (Athletic shot up to eight times) with Alves absolutely overwhelmed by the game, with Alba at the mercy of Nico and with the Blaugrana urgently asking for the break. Beyond the effectiveness of Ferran, gave the feeling that Barça was going to last as long as Pedri lasted.

The scene of the match took a turn when Marcelino had to bring on Iñaki Williams earlier than he had planned due to an injury to Sancet due to a bad gesture. But not even for those reasons did Barça dominate the game. Xavi spent a quarter of an hour on Frenkie and Ansu under the constant threat of the Williams brothers. The change of actors did not change a script in which Athletic showed more teeth than the Catalans, but that Barça arrived ten minutes from the end tied was almost a miracle.

The umpteenth sung of Barça in defense led to Iñigo’s goal that seemed definitive, but Pedri, in added time, equalized in a goal that weighed less than Ansu’s injury. Athletic, much more of a team, continued in their lane and ended up forcing Alba’s penalty, which served Muniain to crown his best night. Pedri, the only one who could discuss the match, was already exhausted.