Valverde reveals that Athletic Bilbao will have a big party after Cup win

Athletic Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde has revealed that there will be a huge party to celebrate breaking the 40-year jinx of waiting for a trophy.

Athletic Bilbao defeated two Spanish heavyweights, Ba, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid, on their way to the final, ending their six consecutive Copa del Rey final defeats.

The San Mames-based side defeated Mallorca 4-2 on penalties in Seville on Saturday to end a 40-year wait for silverware. The game in Seville started like a seventh successive Copa Del Rey final loss after 35-year-old Daniel Rodriguez opened the scoring for Mallorca after 21 minutes.

Mallorca are ten places behind Athletic Bilbao on the La Liga table in fifteenth place, but they took advantage of a poor defensive work by Athletic from a corner to open the scoring.

The underdogs went into the break with the lead, and they also dreamed of winning a second Copa since their first and only in 2003, but they had a reality check when Nico Williams’ finish was ruled out for offside just before halftime.

Moments into the second period, the lead disappeared when Oihan Sancet drew them level with a curling effort from Nico William’s pass just five minutes after the break.

The rest of the half and the extra 30 minutes in extra time failed to produce a goal. Still, Athletic Bilbao’s impressive season will end in silverware with a place in Europe after scoring all four penalties they took, while Mallorca lost theirs.

The win is Ernesto Valverde’s second Copa Del Rey title win, his first coming in 2018 with Barca. It is, in fact, his second final with Bilbao after losing to them in 2015, and he stated how well he and the rest will celebrate it.

“There will be a big party, none compare to this, because of the way we have been chasing this, because of what the cup means, because of the finals we lost.” Enersto Valverde said.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu