Athletic Club Bilbao and Real Sociedad will make history when they play the first-ever Copa del Rey final between these two historic clubs in the Estadio de la Cartuja in Seville on Saturday.
The 2020 final was postponed from a year ago due to the coronavirus crisis, with both teams preferring to wait until this April rather than play it last summer in the hope that fans would be able to travel to watch the game.
Sadly the ongoing health situation means that has not been possible and supporters have had to be satisfied with decorating the streets of Bilbao and San Sebastian with their respective colors (red and white for Athletic and blue and white for Real Sociedad). Although 2,000 fans did give Athletic an emotional, if not exactly socially distanced, send-off on Thursday as the club travelled to Seville.
Although the stands in La Cartuja will be empty, the game still promises fireworks as Athletic look to claim their first Copa del Rey since 1984, while their rivals have not won the Cup since 1987.
Only FC Barcelona have won more than Athletic's 24 Copas and the side coached by Marcelino Garcia Toral got a morale boost after beating Real Madrid and Barca on their way to winning this season's Supercup.
Athletic also have more experience of playing big games, after playing (and losing) the 2009, 2012 and 2015 Cup finals (all of them against Barca) and the 2012 Europa League final, which they lost to Atletico Madrid.
Real Sociedad meanwhile have to go back to 1988 for their last final appearance, when they were beaten 1-0 by Barcelona.
The game should present a contrast in styles with Real Sociedad aiming to repeat their 1-0 win in Athletic's San Mames Stadium on New Year's Eve. That game saw Imanol Alguacil's team control the ball from start to finish in a 1-0 win, in which Athletic failed to muster a single shot on target.
That defeat led to Marcelina replacing Gaizka Garitano as Athletic coach days later and the former Valencia, Villarreal and Sevilla coach has brought about a big change in both Athletic's performances and confidence.
Only Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have beaten Athletic since Marcelino took over, with those defeats by just a single goal to show the increased competitiveness of a side that now plays a strict 4-4-2 system with a combination of order in midfield linked to the pace of Alex Berenguez, and Inaki Williams in attack.
Marcelino is also the last man to have led a team to the Copa del Rey title as he was the man at the helm when Valencia beat Barcelona 2-1 in the 2019 final (the last one to be played).
With Mikel Merino, Asier Illaramendi and David Silva offering 'La Real' greater control in midfield than Athletic, the big question could be whether Athletic look to pressure high up the field or sit deep in what promises to be a close and passionate game despite the empty stands.
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