Penalty shoot-out sees Mallorca lose the Copa del Rey final

Athletic Bilbao beat Real Mallorca on penalties to end a 40-year trophy drought for the Basque side, to win their 24th Copa del Rey title and their first since 1984. They beat Real Mallorca 4-2 on penalties in a nerve-wracking final which finished just before 1am on Sunday morning.

A few weeks ago, Mallorca won the penalty lottery, beating Real Sociedad and getting to the Copa del Rey final. This time around, it wasn’t to be and Bilbao just about deserved to win. For long periods, especially in the second half, it was easy to see why the Basque side are 25 points above us in La Liga. In Nico Williams they have one of the best left wingers in world football and he tormented our defence all night. There’s no doubt he’ll be on several premier league sides’ shopping lists this Summer.

In a final full of emotion, Mallorca took the lead after 20 minutes. Dani Rodriguez fired home through a sea of legs after the ball had been cleared three times. That goal was probably the most important one Dani has scored for Mallorca. Bilbao kept pressing forward but Mallorca’s resolute defence managed to keep their goal intact as the half-time whistle blew.

In the second minute of the second half, Larin found himself in another one-on-one situation with the Bilbao goalkeeper Agirrezabala (I’ll bet they had a hard job getting his name on the back of his jersey). But once again the Canadian striker fluffed his lines big time. That’s about five good chances Larin has missed this season. For me, I don’t think he’s good enough for La Liga standards and has to be offloaded in the summer as his goal-scoring prowess is practically nil in La Liga.

I have no idea what the Bilbao coach, Ernesto Valverde, put in his team’s half-time pintxos but it certainly worked a treat. After a Dani Rodriguez slip and a wonder through pass from Nico Williams, Sancet levelled proceedings and it was game on. Bilbao were in control but missed a shedload of chances. They smelt blood, and Mallorca were struggling to keep the scores level. The introduction of Morlanes and Sanchez improved our performance after our last summer signings Darder and Larin went to the bench. By now it was Bilbao’s forwards against Mallorca’s defence, as miraculously we held out past extra time for the late, late penalty lottery show. Morlanes and Radonjic missed from the spot and Bilbao scored all of theirs.

It was an epic 120 minutes of Cup football, not for the faint-hearted, and a long journey home for the disappointed Mallorca fans. A word about our striker Vedat Muriqi who once again was left to plough a lone furrow upfront with hardly any service. He played his heart out for the team all over the pitch and had a horrific clash of heads with a Bilbao player near the end. The medics bandaged up his head and his header in the closing stages of the game was brilliantly saved by the Bilbao keeper. A despondent coach Aguirre has now to pick his team up for the visit of runaway league leaders Real Madrid on Saturday at 6:30.