The lions, champions of the Copa del Rey 40 years later – – 2024-04-11 08:53:56

Penalties returned the Copa del Rey to Athlétic Club forty years after it last won it in 1984 at the hands of Javier Clemente against the Barcelona of Diego Armando Maradona and Bernd Schuster.

It has been Ernesto Valverde who has guided his team to achieve this trophy that has been denied to the people of Bilbao in the last 40 years and which, on the night of La Cartuja, has had the proper names of the goalkeeper Julen Aguirrezabala, who He stopped the first, and Lex Berenguer, who scored the final goal that gave Athlétic the title by beating Mallorca of Mexican Javier Aguirre

It was not easy. It was a fierce duel that led the Basques to achieve their twenty-fourth cup title, although they claim one more, which will not be the biggest problem on a night in which the Bilbao fans relieved their anguish with a goal “San Mamés”

And the victory was worked. After Mallorca’s Dani Rodríguez’s goal at 21 minutes, Ernesto Valverde’s men were overwhelmed by the pressure, confused and imprecise in the face of the unexpected and engulfed by the cauldron of their fans, while Javier Aguirre’s men managed with determination and faith the anxiety of their opponents.

The Williams were the living image of impotence in their successive approaches to the goal of a Mallorca without loopholes and with a swell of fans in the face of the disappointed silence of the people of Bilbao, only broken sporadically in incidents such as a disallowed goal for Nico, the youngest of the siblings.

Yes, you can, the Mallorcan fans sang at half-time and the Bilbao players woke up from their lethargy at the beginning of the second half to push their team in search of a tie, while Basque Aguirre’s team kept waiting and conspired. But everything changed when Ohian Sancet scored five minutes after the restart and the chant was “go for them, oé.”

From 0-2 that Larin had in his boots, it went to 1-1 and a monologue that did not last long, because Aguirre’s men recomposed themselves in that section in which everyone begins to measure to the millimeter so as not to fail and reach extra time. , managing fears and times.

Valverde and Aguirre united from the corners of their technical areas the management of the last minutes with the planning of a possible extension and even the names of the possible penalty takers, but there were minutes left and it was the priority, but the extension arrived, isolated scares like a header from Muriqi to the base of the post and, heads or tails.

There all the throats were broken before the saliva could not arrive: it began with Julen Aguirrezabala and ended with Lex Berenguer, who have returned a title of their own to the San Mamés showcases 40 years later.