Athletic, for its fourth Super Cup

The Athletic Club wants to prolong this Sunday at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh the idyll he maintains with the Super Cup, competition of which he is the current champion to add a fourth title of the competition against a Real Madrid in top form.

those of Marcelino Garcia Toral qualified for the final after coming back on Thursday to Atletico Madrid (1-2) while those of Carlo Ancelotti needed the extension to eliminate al Barcelona (2-3).

10th final since 2009

The Bilbao team is presented in what is its tenth final since 2009, the fourth in less than a year, with five games in a row without losing in a Super Cup, in which he has won the trophy in the two previous editions he has played.

However, it is in the finals where Athletic is having its biggest mole, since of the nine he has played in the last 13 years, only won two Super Cup and lost five in the Cup, one in the Europa League and another in the Super Cup.

To try to win this Sunday, it is more than likely that Marcelino trust again in the block that so brilliantly traced back to Atlético de Madrid in the semifinals. Although his team turned the score around after making the four changes he carried out, three in one go, the coach ended up satisfied with the work of a starting eleven that kept up the type and beat the league champion at times.

The Bilbao team has a certain spirit of revenge with Real Madrid after the two games between the two teams in December in which they conceded two defeats (1-0 at the Bernabeu Y 1-2 in San Mames) after having deserved much more. Especially in Madrid, where he created occasions to emerge victorious.

For this duel, the Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, He will not have his gala team due to two important defensive absences. The coronavirus leaves out of combat again Danny Carvajal, that after a month off he returned in the classic, and David Alaba He has very few options to play due to the muscular problem that he drags. Lucas Vazquez It will be new on the right side and nacho fernandez will remain as a couple Military.

However, the Italian coach will have no problems in the attack line, where he will have the fashionable couple from LaLiga Santander: Vinícius-Benzema, the great threats for Athletic.

Three Super Cup titles

The Athletic Club He has three Super Cup titles to his name, all three won, moreover, against Barcelona. Those three titles, along with two sub-championships, make the Athletic the third best club in the competition. A position he seized last year from Sports of La Coruna, which also has three Super Cups, although without having reached any more finals.

Preceding the Bilbao club on the podium are the Barcelona (13 titles and 11 subchampionships) and the Real Madrid (11 and 5)

The Bilbao club achieved its first Super Cup by winning the 1984 Copa del Rey against Barcelona (1-0, Endika). As they had previously won the League that season, the rojiblanco team won the tournament, which then only faced League and Cup champions, without having to play it on the pitch.

The second Super Cup of Athletic is more recent. It was in 2015 and ended a drought of titles in the 31-year-old rojiblanco team.

One spectacular 4-0 in San Mamés, with a goal from the midfield of Michael San Jose and a hat trick from Aritz Adurizopened a path that closed the 1-1 lap at the Camp Nou with so much also from Aritz Aduriz to dispel the doubts that had been generated in the rojiblancos by a first target of Messi.

The third Super Cup it was last year. Those of the then newcomer Marcelino Garcia Toral they beat Real Madrid 1-2 (Benzema; Raúl García, 2, 1p) and in the final to Barcelona 2-3 with extension included (Griezmann, 2; De Marcos, Villalibre and Iñaki Williams).

the sun will return

Although Friday and Saturday were rainy days in the capital of Saudi Arabia, the forecast is that the sun will rise again this final Sunday. But the temperature will drop compared to what was in the semifinals, being below 20 degrees at the time of the final.