• Athletic The dream of the Williams, of jumping the Melilla fence to 'matagigantes' of the Super Cup: "My mother told me that I deserve it"

The press room of the Rey Fahd stadium breathed a temperature below zero when Marcelino García, the coach of the four Athletic finals in one year (two of the Copa del Rey and, with this, two of the Spanish Super Cup), sat in the same seat where on Thursday he gave off happiness, after

Nico Williams

' lethal lunge against Atlético.

It was cold in the compound.

Quite.

The air conditioning gave hardly any respite.

And that it was barely warm outside.

A sandstorm had crushed Athletic's training the day before and they were forced to work out in the gym.

A sandy blizzard mixed with heavy rain has left some exotic (and huge) puddles at a point on the planet where, according to locals, it occurs no more than ten times a year.

The fact is that Marcelino was there, calm and hoping to win his second title, his second Super Cup, in his year of happy journey in Bilbao. "Emotionally we are unbeatable. You come to play the Super Cup against three great clubs. We were able to beat the current League champion. On a physical level, we'll see. In principle, there are no casualties, although there are blows and fatigue from a great effort".

It does not scare Athletic, the champion, a fact that seemed anecdotal when the week started in Riyadh.

Nobody had the Basque team.

Everyone glimpsed a second derby in the desert.

Including some other local Atlético fan, who anticipated the purchase of his ticket.

"It's an incredible merit to have reached these four finals. The fans have to be proud. If on top of that you win it against the odds like a year ago against Barça, it's incredible. We're going to leave everything behind to win it. We're a difficult team".

Connection with Ancelotti

Athletic also has the recent experience of the two duels against Real Madrid in December. Both, with victory for the white team. "We won't change what we did against Atlético. We know that to beat Real Madrid we will have to suffer. In addition, we will have to attack with criteria. We have to be intelligent in the way we attack and, above all, do it in an organized way" , analyzed.

And before leaving for the pitch to pose with the Super Cup alongside

Carlo Ancelotti

, with whom he has a good relationship, despite having little contact, and to whom he professes football admiration since his time as a Milan player, in the

Arrigo Sacchi

's stage

, wanted to leave a message about reaching another final.

"Arriving here has incredible merit. The very different philosophy we have, especially in global football. Sometimes in Bilbao that is forgotten. Competing against three ocean liners has supreme merit," he added.

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