The Williams brothers took Athletic by the hand and took them to the Cup final. They know the way, it will be the third time they have played in five years, but this time they have more powerful arguments to think about winning it 40 years after the last title. That pair of brothers who are able to find each other without looking.
They also do it at an unexpected speed, impossible for their rivals to follow, as Iñaki demonstrated by facing Hermoso on the way to Athletic’s second goal, which he ended up giving to his brother. The oldest reached the baseline and put the ball behind for the little one to push. It was just the return of the gift that Nico had given him for the first goal.
It was an extraordinary volley from Iñaki when Athletic had not yet gotten close to Oblak’s goal. But the pass belonged to Nico, who had already begun to torture Nahuel Molina from his side. The older brother finished off without opposition and without Hermoso getting close to bothering him. The same thing that Molina suffered on the right side of Atlético’s defense with Nico, Hermoso suffered on the other side with Iñaki.
That volley turned the game upside down for Atlético, who from then on were aware that reaching the Cup final was somewhere between very difficult and impossible. It was not a dance like the one in the League match in which Atlético never knew its place on the field. He started pressing and getting closer to Agirrezabala’s goal, but the minutes were passing and the goals only came from the other side.
Berenguer’s goal in the first leg was already weighing at the beginning of the match. And it was also regrettable that Griezmann arrived in Bilbao as just another spectator. He has not had time to recover from the injury he suffered in Milan and watched the match from the stands, between his compatriot Lemar and the club’s head of security.
Correa did not have the same effect and Morata was missing something. Although they got close to the goal in a ball that the Spanish international lowered and that the world champion sent over the crossbar. Atlético had little more, which was gradually diluted while Athletic was already excited about taking the barge out through the estuary again.
For forty years the boat in which Athletic celebrated the two Leagues it won in the 80s with Clemente on the bench and that Copa del Rey that ended in a pitched battle against Maradona’s Barcelona has been stopped.
Guruzeta’s goal encouraged that illusion. Oblak was right to clear a shot from Sancet, but no one was going to bother the Athletic forward so that he didn’t push his team’s third into the net.
Only at the end of the match, when the tie was already decided and Barrios and Riquelme met on the field, did Atlético decide to try the hands of Agirrezabala, the goalkeeper that Ernesto Valverde has chosen for the Cup. And he always responded well, without caring. that the national team’s goalkeeper, Unai Simón, saw him from the bench.
The Athletic coach changed Iñaki Williams in the last minutes. A prize in the end so that he could win the prize of the applause of his fans. A prize that he had to share with his brother. Between the two of them, they are willing to take the barge through the estuary again. At the moment, they have already taken Athletic to the final.
2024-02-29 23:27:18
#Williams #Athletic #final
