The idyll with the Cup has vanished for Athletic. What used to be the competition of choice has now become elusive and elusive. Saturday was a new example of it. The rojiblanco team had the opportunity to add their twenty-fifth title of the KO tournament against Real Sociedad, but ended up succumbing in a final that a priori seemed more affordable than the previous three disputed against Barça.
It was not so. The team of Marcelino did not play a good game and the San Sebastian did good their superiority in the second half thanks to the goal scored from a penalty by Mikel
Oyarzabal after a mistake by the Biscayan when it came to getting the ball out. In this way, the rojiblanco team suffered a major blow in the competition that was previously the watchword of the Ibaigane entity.
Three lost finals against Barça and one against Atlético de Madrid and Real Sociedad
The data does not lie. Athletic have lost the last five finals they have played since they won the last trophy in their showcases in 1984. The following year, the team still led by Javier
Gracious, the great architect of the successes of the 80s, lost to Atlético de Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu by 1-2, with two goals from Hugo
Sanchez, the first with a controversial penalty for a possible hand of Ismael
Urtubi after a corner kick from the colchoneros. The lions took a hard defeat and their followers had to suffer endless queues on their way out of Madrid due to the controls organized by the Civil Guard.
It took a long time to see the team fight for the title again. Specifically 24 years. Until 2009, the team did not reach a new final. The set of Caparros He played an epic semifinal against Sevilla with that 3-0 in the return of San Mamés that will always be remembered, but fell for the title in Valencia against Barça. Toquero put the lions ahead in the 8th minute, but Yaya
Touré, Messi, Bojan and Xavi they made a difference later to clear any doubts as to who was superior.
Three years later, already with Marcelo
Bielsa As a coach, history repeated itself in a season forever etched in the memory of fans. The people from Bilbao achieved a place in two finals, the Europa League and the Cup finals. After showing themselves around the Old Continent, they arrived fused to the title match played in Bucharest against Atlético and fifteen days later to the Cup. Barça, again , was the executioner to win 0-3, with two goals from Pedro and one from Messi.
In 2015, more of the same against the same rival. The Catalans also beat the rojiblancos (1-3) and cut off the title options again, as happened on Saturday in the La Cartuja derby, which fell on the realistic side.
On April 17 there is a new opportunity against Barça also in La Cartuja
It is true that in this period, Athletic has reaped three Super Cups (1984, 2015 and 2020), but it is also true that it lost the 2012 Europa League final and above all that it has not just achieved that coveted Cup that it continues to resist. in the last 37 years, a title of the so-called greats like the League, which has already become almost impossible because of the money that moves in football.
At least, there will be a new opportunity to achieve it on the 17th in the same stage of La Cartuja, but the rival will be Barça in a good moment of form in LaLiga. We will see if that day Athletic can finally break this bad historical sequence in cup finals.