Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat in the Spanish Super Cup on Thursday as Athletic Bilbao pulled off a 2-1 victory in Malaga to reach Sun...
Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat in the Spanish Super Cup on Thursday as Athletic Bilbao pulled off a 2-1 victory in Malaga to reach Sunday’s final against Barcelona.
Raul Garcia scored twice in the first half, the second a penalty, and while Karim Benzema pulled one back for the defending champions, Bilbao held on to complete a statement win under their new coach Marcelino Garcia Toral.
Bilbao were beaten 3-2 by Barca in La Liga only last week, with Lionel Messi scoring twice at San Mames, yet they will get another shot at Ronald Koeman’s side this weekend, with a trophy up for grabs in Seville.
“We are 90 minutes from winning a title,” said Marcelino. “It would be amazing, and even better to do it beating Real Madrid and Barcelona.”
Real coach Zinedine Zidane was defiant in defeat. “It is not a failure,” he said. “You can’t win every game.”
Messi is touch and go to be fit for the final, after missing Wednesday’s penalty shoot-out victory over Real Sociedad with a muscle problem, although even without their captain, Barcelona will be strong favourites.
Bilbao, though, should take huge confidence from an excellent performance at La Rosaleda in what was only their second game under Marcelino, who replaced the sacked...
