When you consider the fact that Athletic Bilbao were in a relegation spot in the early stages of the season, the fact that they now have a chance at a domestic double seems outrageous. However, that is the magic of Cup competitions in football.
Bilbao managed to qualify for their second successive Copa del Rey final, defeating Levante in the second leg of the semi-final after drawing 1-1 with them in the first leg of the fixture.
Roger Marti of Levante opened the scoring in the 17th minute for Levante, but a penalty converted by Raul Garcia managed to put the visitors back in the game. It took up until the second half of extra time for Alex Berenguer to score the winner for Bilbao, to push them into the finals of the Spanish Cup where they face an in-form Barcelona team who only just completed another Remontada against Sevilla.
Bilbao will face rivals Real Sociedad on April 3rd, in the finals of last season’s Copa del Rey and will go up against Barcelona fourteen days later, on April 17th. The Supercopa de Espana victory will be three months old to the day on April 17th, and Bilbao will have the chance to double up on the upset victory. On the other hand, Barcelona will have the perfect opportunity to extract revenge.
Current Bilbao head coach Marcelino Garcia also has the chance to complete a hat-trick of Cup victories, with the manager having previously won the cup in 2019 with Valencia. This will only be possible if Bilbao win both finals against Sociedad and Barcelona, and given their current run of form, it would be unwise to rule them out completely.
