Athletic Club leaves Real Madrid in a bad way

Eight years has passed for Real Madrid without winning a Copa del Rey. The last one was, precisely, with the Italian Carlo Ancelotti on the bench and that gallop by the Welshman Gareth Bale down the side of the Mestalla stadium. Since then, only one semifinal, lost in 2020 against FC Barcelona, ​​and disappointments against big and small teams in a competition that has crossed.

The last chapter in San Mamés against an Athletic Club that enhances the competition, only surpassed in titles by FC Barcelona. Real Madrid was surpassed by the rival, especially from the physical point of view, and by a magical environment, which lived from four hours before the game a great day atmosphere through the streets of Bilbao despite being working.

“This is not the League, today is special,” an Athletic subscriber for more than 20 years told Efe while waiting to encourage his team on the bus arrival; Real Madrid had less luck in its displacement, since bottles and various objects were thrown at it that ended with a broken windscreen on its bus.

The serious match atmosphere, despite the 75% capacity limitation due to the coronavirus pandemic, was to be expected. Far away was that ovation for the Frenchman Karim Benzema in the League by the rojiblanca fans; they didn’t miss him, but Real Madrid did.

“It was very difficult for us to get the ball out from behind,” Ancelotti said at a press conference as an explanation for his team being outmatched from the first minute of the game. Athletic Club dominated him, subdued him and did not beat him more comfortably due to his lack of scoring; putting an end to the “illusions” that Real Madrid had in the Copa del Rey.

Hopes that were about to vanish two weeks ago in Elche, when an epic comeback in extra time, with one less, put the whites in the quarterfinals. And in the round of 16, against Alcoyano, they suffered until the 76th minute to go through to the tie.

A rival against which the ghosts of the previous season reappeared for minutes, when the extra time did not favor Real Madrid and they were once again eliminated by a Second B team.

This was the last participation of Frenchman Zinedine Zidane in the Copa del Rey, the only trophy that eluded him as white coach. An enviable record that was closed without approaching the title since in 2020 he fell at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Sociedad in the quarterfinals.

The previous year, Real Madrid, with the Argentine Santiago Solari on the bench, reached the furthest instances of the last seven years. Some semi-finals against FC Barcelona in two games which, together with the defeat against Ajax in the Champions League, ended Solari’s journey as head of the team.

And it was precisely the Copa del Rey that began to dig the end of Zidane’s first stage at Real Madrid. Not even the achievement of the third Champions League in a row -no team has won two since it ceased to be the European Cup- could with the sensations of ZZ after being eliminated in the quarterfinals against Leganés, who came back from 0-1 in the first leg in an entire Santiago Bernabéu.

Same instance in which it fell the previous year. Also in two games, but against Celta de Vigo in a tie that was put against them 2-3 at home. Real Madrid won 1-2 in Balaídos and Sergio Ramos touched another heroic, but it could not be.

Although it was the Copa del Rey that, curiously, began to offer him the opportunity to win the first team. In 2015-2016, the then team led by Rafa Benítez concurred in an improper alignment against Cádiz by lining up the Russian Denís Chéryshev when he was carrying a sanction, causing the elimination a posteriori.

And Ancelotti’s last experience in the Cup with Real Madrid dated from January 15, 2015. It was the beginning of the fall of a team that arrived after winning the Champions League and Cup double and with 22 consecutive victories to its credit.

Elimination in the round of 16 against Atlético de Madrid and the Italian said a few words in the press room that, in the message, are similar to those of yesterday, Thursday, in Bilbao. “We have three weeks to prepare well for the Champions League and surely this is good for the team,” he said that day.

“I don’t think this defeat will have consequences; the only thing that can happen is to make us stronger”, he assessed after losing 1-0 in Bilbao.

Although the reality is that Real Madrid is once again removed from the triplet and the possibility of returning to the Cup semifinals that it has only stepped on once in the last seven years. In the same period, they reached five Champions League semi-finals despite the, in theory, greater difficulty that this competition entails. (D)