Athletic Bilbao clinch Copa del Rey glory and end their 40-YEAR trophy drought after penalty shootout victory over heartbroken Mallorca

Athletic Bilbao won their first Spanish Cup in 40 years on penalties after 120 grueling minutes against brave Mallorca.

When the match went to penalties the Mallorca players celebrated it as if it were a victory. They had resisted for a long time and now they imagined themselves from penalties, but they were wrong.

Vedat Muriqi scored for them. He, for his part, did not deserve to be on the losing side. Raúl García tied for Athletic. But a shot by Manu Morlanes was saved by Julen Agirrezabala and Athletic never lost the advantage. Iker Muniain scored. Nemanja Radonjic dodged his kick. Mikel Vesga slipped but his shot went into the back of the net. Antonio Sánchez kept Mallorca alive by scoring. But Alex Berenguer buried his and the cup went to Athletic.

His coach Ernesto Valverde put his hands on his head. He had won the cup coaching Barcelona in 2018. Now he had achieved success for a club whose tradition is based on winning this particular trophy that only Barcelona has won more often in Spain.

There were more than 20,000 people inside the stadium to celebrate. And nearly 30,000 outside, many of whom traveled without tickets and are now enjoying success in the host city, Seville.

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The defeated coach Javier Aguirre had played well. His Mallorca is bottom of the table and should not have been such a good opponent for top-flight Athletic.

He repeated the tactic from the semi-final by urging his players to roar as if the penalty had already been scored when he read the names of the penalty takers, but this time it didn’t work.

Nico Williams was the player of the match, but he had given Mallorca their first chance of the match, giving the ball directly to Muriqi, whose curler was brought down by Julen Agirrezabala. Nothing came of the first resulting corner but in the second Mallorca scored.

A shot by Sergi Darder was pushed in by Cyle Larin in the 20th minute and when it went to Gio González, his shot was stopped by Aitor Paredes. When José Copete’s shot came out, Agirrezabala pushed him. This time, when the ball came out to Antonio Raillo, he calmly passed it to Rodríguez in the crowded area and, just as calmly, chose his spot to put Mallorca ahead.

The Williams brothers had warmed up midway through the first half and Iñaki made a clearance but the ball got stuck at his feet and he couldn’t finish. Nico then passed the ball over Greif from a tight angle, but the goal did not count because he was offside when Yuri Berchiche passed to him.

It was Nico who helped equalize at the start of the second half, stealing from Rodríguez and breaking through the Mallorca defense with a pass that found Sancet, who buried the opportunity.

The goal came on both sides of Mallorca’s chances, with Larin forcing a save from Agirrezabala and a Muriqi cross hitting the post. But it seemed as if Athletic were on top now despite those two difficult moments.

Try as they might, they could not bring down Mallorca again after the astute Javier Aguirre refreshed their midfield with the introduction of Manuel Morlanes and Antonio Sánchez.

Athletic could have won in added time, but Vivian’s shot, seen late by Greif, was parried in an unorthodox manner by the goalkeeper’s forearm.

Athletic’s captain, Iker Munian, came on in extra time to replace Iñaki Williams and had his best chances.

The tireless Muriqi faced Unai Gómez; the first had to be bandaged and the second stitched before the battle could be resumed. The game was now limping towards penalties. It was the substitutes who seemed to have more in the tank and a labyrinthine run by Berenguer ended with a shot on goal.

Some of the starters were still doing well. Óscar de Marcos sneaked behind the Mallorcan defense and crossed but Nico’s shot from close range was deflected into a corner by Pablo Mafeo.

Muriqi then headed in from close range only for Agirrezabala to save his line. Muriqi had been Mallorca’s best player. Nico was from Athletic and forced a late corner but failed to penetrate Greif’s goal. At least until Athletic proved so brutally effective in the penalty shootout.