Athletic Bilbao face their second round on Saturday (1:30 PM) against Barcelona to try to win the Copa del Rey, after losing the 2020 Cup two weeks ago to Real Sociedad, in a duel between the two most laureate clubs in the history of this trophy.
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Athletic has its second consecutive chance to add a 25th Copa del Rey title, after the one it had fifteen days ago against Real Sociedad in the final of the Copa del Rey 2020, postponed by the pandemic.
The ‘Lions’ fell 1-0 in the first Basque final in the history of the Cup, so now they have a new opportunity to lift a trophy they have not won since 1984, precisely against Barcelona.
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“The last final is history,” Athletic coach Marcelino Garcia Toral said on Friday, saying “we are very excited.”
“We are facing this new final against a great club, but with all the motivation and all the desire,” warned the captain of the ‘Lions’, Iker Muniain.
Since winning the Cup 37 years ago, Athletic have reached five finals, three of which were against Barça, all of them lost, the last in 2015 when they fell 3-1.
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Probable teams:
Athletic: Unai Simón – De Marcos, Yeray, Íñigo Martínez, Yuri – Berenguer, Dani García, Vesga, Muniain – Raúl García, Iñaki Williams. Coach: Marcelino García Toral
Barcelona: Ter Steguen – Dest, Araujo, Lenglet, Jordi Alba – Busquets, De Jong, Pedri – Dembélé, Griezmann, Messi. Coach: Ronald Koeman (NED)
referee: Juan Martínez Munuera