COPA DEL REY FINAL : Basque rivals battle for gong & glory

Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad have waited impatiently for a year to be able to play the Copa del Rey final, the first ever final between the clubs holds today.

The 2019/20 final was supposed to be played on April 18 last year, only for the health crisis to intervene.

A rescheduled date was put off in the hope it could eventually go ahead in front of fans, given how special an occasion it is for supporters of both sides.

A year on, fans are still not allowed back in stadiums in Spain but the game can wait no longer, because the final of this season’s edition is set to be played on April 17, also at La Cartuja in Seville.

Remarkably, Athletic will be in that final too, against Barcelona. And so, 37 years since the last of their 23 Cup victories — a tally bettered only by Barca — they could win it twice in 15 days.

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They could also win it only to have to hand back the trophy a fortnight later, or they could suffer the agony of losing two finals in quick succession.

In normal times a vast wave of supporters, decked out in the red and white of Athletic or the blue and white of La Real, would have embarked on the 900-kilometre journey from the far north of the Iberian peninsula to the far south to fill the 60,000-capacity La Cartuja.

Instead the ground will be empty, and even the images of several hundred Athletic fans gathering to give their team a raucous send-off on Thursday have been met with frowns from local authorities.

However, one set of fans will still celebrate this evening.

Athletic have been regulars in Cup finals recently, losing three times to Barcelona at this stage in the last 12 years and losing a Europa League final to Atletico Madrid in 2012.

They have not won the Cup since 1984, when they defeated Barca in a final immortalised by a mass brawl in which Diego Maradona featured prominently.