Pending accounts in the Cathedral

After the erratic passage through the Cathedral of two giants like Barcelona and Real Madrid, San Mamés is decked out for another great night of the Cup on the occasion of the first leg of the semifinals that this Thursday measures Athletic and Valencia. The claws of the lions curtailed the cup hopes of azulgranas and meringues, but they were separate duels to life or death.

In this case, however, Mestalla will stage the outcome of this two-leg tie between the second and fifth most successful teams in the competition on Wednesday, March 2. Between Athletic and Valencia they add up to 31 titles, 23 from the Basques and 8 from the Levantines and 56 finals (19 and 17). The balance of their historical duels, quite balanced, with four victories for each one, although the people from Bilbao won the two times they met in the penultimate round and in the end they lifted the Cup.

A priori, the tie is marked by the controversy with the calendar and the logical complaints of the Athletic coach, Marcelino García Toral. If in the first leg Valencia is going to enjoy almost a day and a half more rest, in the second leg the offense is even greater. The black and whites will have two more days off to play the previous League match against Mallorca on Friday, while Athletic will visit the Camp Nou on Sunday at 9:00 p.m.

Expectation for the reunion between Marcelino José Bordalás, two technicians whose relationship is now cordial but was very tense when the first trained the Mestalla club and the second Getafe, and they met in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Cup. prior to the first game, the Spaniard alluded to the hard play of the Madrid team. Hours later, after the 1-0 in favor of the azulones in the first round, Bordalás responded harshly: “I have nothing with any coach and Marcelino has had problems with many colleagues,” he recalled. The return ended with the controversial classification of Valencia with two goals from Rodrigo Moreno, tangana and two coaches who avoided greeting each other.

Maximum tension

Marcelino, present in the last three finals, the first precisely with Valencia and the following two losses with Athletic, will seek his fourth consecutive final with a plan similar to the one that allowed him to beat Madrid. Intensity, depth and many people incorporated into the rival area after stealing the ball. An idea that requires maximum effort and that is why the Athletic coach rested almost all of his starting team on Monday against Espanyol. He only kept Íñigo Martínez and García, Dani and Raúl, three basic pieces, from the beginning.

After having added only two points of the last 15 possible in the League, where Valencia is five points from seventh place, Bordalás’ team clings to the Cup to win a title again and find the fastest and most direct way to play in Europe. Many problems for Bordalás in defense, since Gabriel Paulista is injured and Alderete and Diakhaby are not in their prime. In addition, Hugo Guillamón underwent surgery on Monday after suffering a fracture in the nasal septum and although he wants to be in the game he would do it with a mask.