• Sanction. Four games to Iñigo Martínez for slapping Sergio León

On May 12, 2005 there was the saddest eviction from old San Mamés in decades.

After two draws to zero, Athletic had missed its first Copa del Rey final in 30 years on penalties.

That last pitch thrown by

Ezquerro

and stopped by the Betic

Doblas

made generations of fans think that they would never see their Athletic in a final.

Many of them, for the first time.

But since football (almost) always grants revenge options, 15 years later all those rojiblancos supporters have been able to enjoy six successful semifinals.

One after the other, without fail.

Athletic has managed to overcome the semis of the Cup in 2009 (Sevilla), 2012 (Mirandés), 2015 (Espanyol) and 2020 (Granada), the one in the Europa League in 2012 (Sporting de Portugal) and the most recent in the Super Cup of Spain of this same year (Real Madrid).

Since May 12, 2005, Athletic has not been dropped from any competition in the semifinals.

Whenever he reached that round, he played the final

.

And, if he succeeds this time, he will play two in 14 days: this year and the postponed against Real.

Such a striking streak has lived up to very few teams in recent times.

Sevilla also reached these Cup semifinals with an open streak of six (since 2013), a figure in which both Barcelona (2014-18) and Real Madrid (2015-18) were stagnant.

The difference, of course, is that these three teams lifted several of the titles they competed for - all in the case of the Whites - while Athletic has only won this year's Super Cup.

Also that of 2015, but then the format did not include semifinals.

No Levante final

The one who aspires to cut such a good run for Bilbao is Levante, which is in the opposite position.

Apart from the Copa España Libre of 1937, which lacks official recognition so far, the Granota team has never reached a final.

In fact, there is only one semi-final in his history, that of the 1935 Republic Cup, in which he was felled by Sabadell, who would later lose the final against Sevilla.

The 1-1 of the first leg gives Levante a slight advantage, although Athletic has the confidence of having scored in all the games it has played under the direction of

Marcelino

, while the hosts today have only left a clean sheet in four of the 31 this season.

Absences are the news in both clubs.

Athletic has that of Iñigo Martínez, sanctioned with four games after his expulsion precisely against Levante in the league duel on Friday.

Marcelino trusts in a favorable Appeal resolution today and has summoned him.

Paco López, for his part, will not be able to count on Melero, Postigo, Campaña and Radoja and he maintains the doubt of Bardhi.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • football

  • Copa del Rey

  • Lift UD

  • Athletic Bilbao

FútbolSevilla - Barcelona and Athletic - Levante, in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey

Copa del Rey 2020 - 2021 Four games of sanction to Iñigo Martínez for slapping Sergio León: he will not play tomorrow in the Copa

Copa del Rey Unai Simón saves two penalties and leads Athletic to the semifinals

See links of interest

  • 2021 business calendar

  • Sassuolo - Napoli

  • TD Systems Baskonia - Olympiacos Piraeus

  • Burnley - Leicester City

  • Sheffield United - Aston Villa

  • Barcelona - Seville, live