Athletic Club will play the Super Cup final after coming back against Atlético de Madrid

Athletic Club will play the final of the Spanish Super Cup after beating Atlético de Madrid (1-2) the semifinal match that was played this Thursday at the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). The red and white team the title will be played against Real Madrid on Sunday January 16.

Atlético de Madrid scored a goal after 13 seconds, but Joao Félix received the ball clearly offside and the referee disallowed the goal from Portuguese. The mattress team was superior in the first minutes, and Joao Félix warned with another shot from outside the area that went over the crossbar. Athletic Club’s reaction came in the 10th minute through a pass from Sancet that Iñaki Williams volleyed off and goalkeeper Oblak cleared. Later, Carrasco tried to surprise with a long shot, but goalkeeper Unai Simón saved the ball without any problems.

From the 20th minute on, the pace of the game slowed down and both teams had a hard time generating clear scoring chances. In this way, the break was reached with a goalless tie on the scoreboard (0-0).

Equality was the predominant note at the beginning of the second half. Both Athletic Club and Atlético de Madrid found it difficult to create clear scoring chances. However, in the 61st minute, the mattress team was ahead on the scoreboard (1-0); Joao Félix finished off a corner, and the ball slipped into the goal defended by Unai Simón after hitting the post and the goalkeeper’s back.

After conceding the goal, Athletic was able to tie the game, but Oblak stopped Iñigo Martínez’s shot on the goal line. That move gave wings to the team led by Marcelino García Toral, who had another good chance in the 74th minute, but Oblak avoided the goal after clearing Iñaki Williams’ shot.

The Bizkaia team continued to attack and received the award in the 77th minute with the goal scored by Yeray (1-1); Muniain took the corner and the central defender from Barakaldo sent the header into the net.

After leveling the match, Athletic Club continued to attack, and in the 81st minute they turned the result around thanks to goal by Nico Williams (1-2): The ball was loose in the area after a cross from the side, and Nico beat Oblak with a low shot without letting the ball bounce.

Athletic Club handled the final minutes of the match well, Giménez saw the red card in the 93rd minute, and Bilbao as a whole won the victory and qualified.

Datasheet:

1 – Atletico Madrid: Oblak; Vrsaljko, Giménez, Hermoso; Kondogbia (Rodrigo de Paul, min. 51); Llorente (Lodi, min. 46), Koke (Héctor Herrera, min. 84), Lemar (Cunha, min. 84), Carrasco; Joao Félix and Correa (Luis Suárez, min. 71).

2 – Athletic Club: Unai Simón; De Marcos, Yeray, Iñigo Martínez, Balenziaga (Yuri, min.75); Berenguer (Nico Williams, min. 70), Zarraga (Vesga, min. 70), Dani García, Muniain; Sancet (Raúl García, min. 70) and Iñaki Williams.

Goals: 1-0: Unai Simón (pp), min. 61; 1-1: Yeray, min. 77; 1-2: Nico Williams, min. 81.

Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández (Balearic Committee). He showed a yellow card to Yeray (min. 83) and Mikel Vesga (min. 89) for Athletic Club and Sime Vrsjaljko (min. 91) for Atlético de Madrid. In addition, he sent off the Atlético de Madrid player, José María Giménez, with a direct red card (min. 93).