Madrid (Spain), April 5 (IANS): Two of the standout teams of the season, Athletic Club Bilbao and Mallorca face each other in the Spanish Copa del Rey final in the Estadio de la Cartuja in Seville on Saturday night with a lot more than a trophy at stake.
Athletic Bilbao travel to Sevilla looking to end a 40-year wait to lift the trophy, while Mallorca last won it in 2003. Along with that, Athletic, who are fifth in the La Liga standings and just one spot away from the Champions League qualification positions, will also be looking to maintain their form and clinch a spot in the European championships.
Despite losing six Cup finals since 1984, including two in two weeks of each other in the pandemic-affected 2021, Athletic coached by Ernesto Valverde are the favourite to win the Copa del Rey final. They had defeated Mallorca 4-0 in the San Mames Stadium at the beginning of February.
Athletic knocked FC Barcelona out of the Cup in the quarterfinals and left Atletico Madrid by the wayside with a 4-0 aggregate win in the semifinals, with the Williams brothers, Inaki and Nico, each scoring in the home leg. The Willams brothers will spearhead the Athletic attack in Sevilla along with top scorer Gorka Guruzeta, while former Mallorca midfielder Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta will partner Benat Prados in the midfield.
Mallorca improved in the second half of the season to climb away from the bottom three. They will base their challenge on a rock-solid defense, which has conceded just one goal or less in eight out of nine league games since their defeat in Bilbao. Wily coach Javier Aguirre will want his side to sit deep and deny Athletic space in attack, using players such as Vedat Muriqi from free kicks and corners.
Seville are packed with fans for the match, with the desire of the Athletic supporters to see their team finally cast off their Copa del Rey jink, leading an estimated 80,000 (over half of them without tickets) to make the 860-kilometre trip from the far north of Spain to the south.
Athletic will also have the vast majority of support inside the ground in what is likely to be a spectacular atmosphere, but Valverde will certainly be warning his players that being favorites is no guarantee of success.