2024-04-05 21:57:23
Does anyone have a (serious) problem with Tonight’s Cup final in Seville, in La Cartuja. Someone has a serious problem and it’s not Ernesto Valverdeno matter how much he needs to win that trophy, not only because he is a favorite, not only because he leads Real Mallorca by 25 points in LaLiga, but because he leads the Athletic de Bilbaowhich every year pursues the same objective: the Copa del Rey.
Someone has a (fat) problem and that’s him Mexican Javier Aguirrenicknamed the ‘Vasco’ because all his relatives, on his mother and father’s side, are Basque. “In this final, only my wife, my son and I are in favor of Real Mallorca. The bastards put together my mother’s and father’s families and sent me my 16 Basque surnames, eight from my mother’s side and eight from my father’s side.”
Opposite lives
The excitement that has been experienced this week in the Athletic Club Sports Cityin Lezamahas nothing, nothing, to do with the peace, silence and serenity that reigned in the Antonio Asensio sports areaof They are Bibiloniwhere a highly motivated Real Mallorca appears in Seville with the healthy intention of finishing off one of the most impressive (cup) seasons in its history.
The imperative need to win the trophy that has traveled through the Lezama locker rooms, where no one can think of losing, where there is the shameless obligation to win, does not have much to do with the illusion and the “if possible” that circulated through the charming red locker room of Son Bibiloni, where everyone thinks that the most difficult thing has already been achieved: being in the final.
The bustle, tremendous, the unprecedented madness, sorry, yes, with 38 previous precedents, that the city of Bilbao breathed, dressed in red and white for days, with the presence of more than 80,000 fans in Seville, is not comparable to the insanity and (almost) indifference that beats in Palma and on the island, where football and Real Mallorca, owned by a rich North American who does not even appear here, is not “the most important among the least important things in life”as the teacher said Arrigo Sacchi.
Posing of the coaches and captains with the Copa del Rey in Seville. Ernesto Valverde and Javier Aguirre took photos in La Cartuja next to the trophy and wished each other luck for the final. / RFEF.
Today’s final, which may end tomorrow, represents totally different, distant, even crazy worlds for the two contenders. Athletic, the biggest cup winner of the Spanish teams, logically along with Barça and Real Madrid, has the destiny of “always” winning the Copa del Rey (or whoever it is). His fans consider it something basic. It’s in your DNA. “The season starts here and your mission is to play in the Cup final”one of the red and white starters, one of the most Basque of all, told me yesterday. “Everything else, if it comes, is taken for granted”.
Bilbao, entire, is covered in Athletic flags. They say that, in the La Cartuja stadium, there will be 35,000 Basque fans and 20,000 ‘Mallorqueta’ fans. What they don’t say is that, in the city, around the stadium, in the bars and restaurants of Seville there will be another 60,000 more red and whites. The Cup fever in Bilbao is something else, another thing.
It doesn’t matter to travel without a ticket. You travel and that’s it. What’s more, there have been hundreds of Athletic fans who tried to buy the round-trip plane ticket, which was purchased “just in case” by Real Sociedad fans and they could not buy them because the airlines did not allow changing the name of the club. passenger.
“Only my wife, my son and I are in favor of Mallorca; the rest of the family, the entire family, is in favor of Athletic. But they even put together my 16 Basque surnames, the bastards!”
Although “the finals are carried out by the devil”, as this Athletic headline admitted to me, the truth is that everyone in Bilbao thinks that this final cannot escape their team. But if they have evento Gabarra sparkling and the schedule and route through the estuary ready!
It matters little (or at all) that Ernesto Valverde continually remembers that Athletic has lost the last six cup finals it has played in (1985, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2020 or 2021). It does not matter that the ‘Txingurri’ does not stop telling his lions (and cubs, since there are many young people in his brilliant squad) that Javier Aguierre’s Real Mallorca is tight, solid, difficult to win and that they have reached the final with a surprising trajectory.
That Mallorca champion
And, in the face of so much favoritism, a Real Mallorca appears with the face of Cinderella and the body of Robin Hood, to rob the rich and satisfy the dreams of the poor. The ‘Mallorqueta’ goes to Seville with its homework done and the dream of repeating the 2003 triumph, with Gregory Apple, Samuel Etoo and Walter Pandianitwo of the greatest warriors that world football has ever produced.
‘Basque’ Mallorca knows how to play those games. What’s more, he experiences those matches like no other contender. He knows his limitations, he magnifies his virtues and, of course, he is not easy to defeat. He has real gladiators in his squad, starting with his impressive reserve goalkeeper, Slovak Dominik Greifand ending with his (also) gigantic scorer, the Kosovar Vedat Muriqi. Both, all of them, are one step away from (eternal) glory.
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 05/04/2024.- Mallorca fans leave Mallorca for Seville to attend the final of the Copa del Rey, this Friday. EFE/ Miquel A. Borràs / EFE/ Miquel A. Borràs
They say that Lezama’s footballers and technical staff burst into laughter (and even tears) when they were asked, over and over again, what they preferred: winning the Cup or playing in the Champions League next year. For all of them it was an (almost) offensive question: “Winning the Cup, of course!” That is their Everest, they cannot aspire to more.
Also in that they are different from Real Mallorca. All the inhabitants of Son Bibiloni, who are many, think that their mission in this life, in this football, is to save ‘Mallorqueta’ again, to avoid relegation. The ‘Basque’ recognized it yesterday. They would change staying in the First Division rather than being crowned Cup champions. The jackpot for the islanders (fans included), their Everest, is to remain in the premier category, yes!
The truth, given the trajectories of both teams, is that both teams appear in La Cartuja with the possibility of achieving their particular ‘double’. Athletic continues to touch and flirt with fourth place in LaLiga and Mallorca, with 13 draws in 30 games, has never been in a relegation position this year. The Basques have just lost at the Bernabéu and the islanders host Real Madrid next weekend. Even in that they are similar. Just similar.
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