San Mamés is decked out for a great cup night, one of those that are so popular in the Cathedral. Athletic goes to their fort to come back from 1-0 in favor of Osasuna in the first round of the Copa del Rey final. The lions, who are playing their fourth consecutive semifinal, have the backing of experience, but Osasuna dreams of a milestone that they only reached once in their history (2005). With that purpose, the rojillos display as arguments the minimal but valuable advantage of El Sadar with a goal from Abde and the prevailing equality between both teams this season.
Vizcaínos and Navarrese share the warm places in the league table and have had bad streaks of results in recent weeks, with a win in their last six games. Two traced and poor records that speak clearly that the priority this campaign goes through the Copa del Rey. Nor are there plenty of goals between the people from Bilbao and the people of Pamplona, as the former have only seen the goal in one of their last five games while the latter have accumulated four consecutive games without celebrating a goal.
This being the case, everything points to a close, intense duel without too many concessions to frivolity. It is not for less with a cup final at stake. Athletic resorts to the wild card of the push of its fans, which has not failed it in any of the eight previous semifinals in the 21st century. In total, four wins and four draws under his team, which opened the doors to the title game five times and were not enough on three others.
“Atmosphere, heart and head”
«There is no more, it is this game. It is definitive and we have to go to win it from the beginning because we are losing and we have to come back. You have to play with the environment, with your heart and with your head, “warned Ernesto Valverde in the preview, appealing to the emotional factor of San Mamés but from his classic analytical style, little given to verbal excesses.
The ‘Txingurri’ only regrets the loss of Ander Herrera, absolutely weighed down by injuries on his return to Athletic. Meanwhile, his Osasunista counterpart, Jagoba Arrasate from Biscay, has a very difficult time counting on Chimy Ávila, one of his best assets in attack. The Basque coach faces one of the most important games of his career on the bench with the dream of emulating Javier Aguirre, the coach who led Osasuna to the only cup final in its history 18 years ago. Repeating that milestone would be the icing on the cake for a project born of patience and which has been bearing fruit in El Sadar for almost five years.
-Probable alignments:
Athletic: Agirrezabala, De Marcos, Yeray, Iñigo Martínez, Yuri, Dani García, Vesga, Nico Williams, Vesga, Berenguer and Iñaki Williams.
Osasuna: Sergio Herrera, Nacho Vidal, Aridane, David García, Juan Cruz, Moncayola, Torró, Aimar Oroz, Moi Gómez, Abde and Kike García.
Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande (Madrid Committee).
Stadium: San Mames.
Time and TV: 9:00 p.m. The 1.