A corner for romantics, that is the Copa del Rey.
A corner for tradition, for that football that we knew as children, when a smaller team could access a big title, vintage football that is resolved with blood on the grass, bandaged heads, cramped players, crying in the stands. Mallorca and Athletic, two souls that play a minor role in the league of Madrid and Barça and will almost never appear in the Champions League, meet in Seville and the day before no one dares to point out a favorite, since there is none, but rather uncertainty, passion and urgencies. For both, these opportunities are not abundant.
And that is why, once the outcome is over, with Athletic champion, the Mallorcan fans collapse on the grass, broken and desperate after the penalty shootout, when Morlanes and Radonjic fail, who knows if one day they will experience more chances like this.
Perhaps conditioned by historical urgencies, also encouraged by the accelerated atmosphere of La Cartuja, Athletic rushes and stumbles. The first play of the game illustrates this. Nico Williams stands upright and headless as he goes, without companions and without a compass, towards Greif’s frame.
The outcome is a silly shot that worries no one, least of all Mallorca, who assumes his role, focused on containment, all together around Samu and Darder, and making the most of the set pieces.
Nico Williams is the thermometer of the Basque team, he is already clearly above Iñaki, his older brother: both run at the same speed, although the younger one is more successful. Nico Williams is a sharp knife in the left lane, Valjent’s, but sometimes he goes too fast and other times he makes mistakes. To make up for it, in many others, he gets it right.
First, the errors. Everyone is still positioning themselves on the field when Nico Williams fails to deliver, a dangerous back pass, and Mallorca scores the first goal.
The warning is serious. Mallorca will not give any more concessions: they finally score a little later, already in the 20th minute, when Athletic falls asleep in defense and allows Aguirre’s team three consecutive shots inside the area. In the third, Dani Rodríguez, winter reinforcement in Mallorca’s eleven, gets it right.
(Derrengado finishes, with cramps in the 73rd minute).
And Athletic is already facing its demons, perhaps reliving recent episodes, those five finals that it has wasted in a decade and a half.
How the story has changed: in the 20th century, the Cup belonged to the Basques. They had collected 23 titles in that past that was receding, forty years had passed since the last success, the one that football mythomaniacs remember with shame, with Maradona practicing full contact with the Basque rival, Athletic of Zubi, Goiko, Endika and Sarabia, before packing up and emigrating to Naples.
In reality, the goal in favor feels bad for Mallorca, even worse than for Athletic. Aguirre’s team rests on their laurels, forgets to pivot on the fearsome Muriqi, falls back and allows Nico Williams to grow.
The game and the chronicle orbit around his figure, that of Nico Williams. He gives Valjent such a bad time that Aguirre reinforces the lane with another man. Now Gio also follows and, in extra time, Maffeo. There is no way, Nico Williams is on fire.
He scores offside and it is disallowed, and then he combines with Sancet and again he is about to tie the score.
The tie will fall later, already in the restart, and in reverse terms: the one who steals is Nico Williams, and his pass enables Sancet, who now registers the 1-1.
There are forty minutes of regulation time left and the Mallorca that stirs passions – Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moyá, Mallorcan scarves around their necks, contemplate him from the box – seems to have a great time.
Darder does not give free rein to the darderism that made him a legend in Cornellà: he disappears and goes to the shower. There is no news from Larin either, and the Kosovo Muriqi is an islet in the heart of the Pacific, a lonely rock battered by tides and gales.
No one can see his headlight, not even in the final stretch, when a bandage wraps around his head.
Mallorca suffers but endures the challenge, among other reasons because the Basque offensive is reduced to Nico Williams and Sancet, and the commitment reaches extra time, a blessing for Valverde, who shows muscle and a wardrobe: he incorporates Muniain, Berenguer and Raúl García, people with boards, essential at rush hour, when the soul shrinks.
Athletic: Agirrezabala, De Marcos, Vivian, Paredes. Yuri (Lekue 105), Prados (Vesga 46), Ruiz de Galarreta (Unai G. 79), Iñaki W. (Muniain 91), Sancet (Berenguer 91), Nico Williams and Cruzeta (Raúl García 91). Coach: Ernesto Valverde
Mallorca: Greif, Gio González, Valjent (Maffeo 91), Raíllo, Copete (Nastasic 107), Lato (Van der Heyden 110), Darder (Morlanes 61), Samu Costa, Dani Rodríguez (Radonjic 73), Muriqi and Larin (A Sánchez 61). Coach: Javier Aguirre
Field: La Cartuja (57,000 spectators).
Referee: Munuera Montero (c. Andalusian).
Yellow: Paredes, Muriqi and Radonjic.
Goals: 0-1 Dani Rodríguez (21), 1-1 Sancet (49).
Penalties: Muriqi (goal)-Raúl García (goal): 1-1
Morlanes (money)-Muniain (goal): 2-1
Radonjic (out)-Vesga (goal): 3-1
A. Sánchez (goal)-Berenguer (goal): 4-2
