FC Barcelona continue their Copa del Rey journey on Thursday at 9.30pm CET with a trip to Bilbao, home of Athletic Club. Here’s the lowdown on the team they call The Lions.
Where are they from?
The city of Bilbao is the tenth largest in Spain with a population of almost 350,000, although the ‘Greater Bilbao’ metropolitan area is home to getting on for a million people. It is the main city of the Basque Country, which has its own language and culture. Bilbao is a highly industrialised city and its most famous landmark is the Guggenheim Museum.
Club history
Due to its close connection to Britain, Bilbao was one of the first cities in Spain to develop a football culture, and the Athletic Club was founded one year before FC Barcelona in 1898.
In the early years of the 20th century, the rivalry between Athletic and Barça was probably the most intense in the country. But as the years went by, the traditional friendship between Basques and Catalans was reflected more and more on the football field as they were united against a ‘common enemy’ in the rising Real Madrid.
Athletic remain, along with Barça and Real Madrid, one of just three clubs never to have been relegated out of the first division. And they are second in the all-time list for Spanish Cup victories (23) and fourth for La Liga titles (8), although they have not won either since their double winning campaign in 1983/84.
Arguably this is because the club continues to observe the tradition (it has never been an official policy) of only fielding players raised in the Basque football system. It is testimony to the quality of football in the region that Athletic have remained so competitive in the face of the ‘globalisation’ of football.
The Stadium
The club’s old San Mamés stadium was affectionately known as the Cathedral, but it has now been replaced by a completely new facility on the exact same site. The changes were all made without the team ever having to stop playing at their famous ground and were completed in 2013. The current capacity is 53,289.
Did you know?
Although the club is widely known as ‘Athletic Bilbao’, its own supporters always insist on being called ‘Athletic Club’. This partly dates back to the club’s earliest years, when its greatest rivals were the now defunct Bilbao FC, which it absorbed in 1903.
Atlético Madrid was founded by Basque players living in the Spanish capital, which is why the teams wear the same red and white stripes. But although the Madrid-based team has since adopted a Spanish translation, the team from Bilbao still proudly maintains the English ‘Athletic’ name.
Athletic employs a similar membership-based democratic structure to that of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, something very rare in modern-day football. Osasuna is another such club.
Athletic are known as The Lions, which comes from the fact that the local church from which the stadium takes its name (San Mamés) honours a saint who was thrown to the lions by the Romans.
The club’s red-and-white stripes date back to 1909, when one of the players brought back a set of Southampton shirts from England.
Head-to-head
When it comes to the Spanish Cup, meetings between these two clubs are about as historic as things can get. And in recent years, the tradition between the two teams with the most titles in the competition has been more intense than ever. They have crossed paths on an extraordinary number of occasions, including no fewer than four finals this century.
Barça have won all of those. In fact, the 1-0 loss at San Mamés two years ago was the first time Athletic were the overall winners in a cup tie against Barça since 1960.
But Barça certainly haven’t had it all their own way against the Basques in recent years. In all competitions, Barça have won four of the last ten meetings, Athletic have won three and there have been two draws.
Last ten meetings
21/08/21 (LIGA): Athletic 1-1 Barça
17/04/21 (COPA DEL REY): Athletic 0-4 Barça
31/01/21 (LIGA): Barça 2-1 Athletic
17/01/21 (SPANISH SUPER CUP): Barça 2-3 Athletic
06/01/21 (LIGA): Athletic 2-3 Barça
23/06/20 (LIGA): Barça 1-0 Athletic
06/02/20 (COPA DEL REY): Athletic 1-0 Barça
16/08/19 (LIGA): Athletic 1-0 Barça
10/02/19 (LIGA): Athletic 0-0 Barça
29/09/18 (LIGA): Barça 1-1 Athletic
Form guide
Athletic got off to a reasonably good start in La Liga, losing just one of their first 12 games, a 2-1 reverse at home to Rayo Vallecano. But things have never quite got going, although after a spell of eight consecutive games without a single win things have picked up a bit in the last month or so.
Like Barça, they had a bye to the last 32 of the cup, where they beat lower league Atlético Mancha Real 2-0.
That bye was due to their participation in the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, where they came from behind to beat Atlético Madrid and earn a place in Sunday’s final, where they lost 2-0 to Real Madrid.
The squad
Most capped internationals: Iñigo Martínez (Spain, 15), Unai Simón (Spain, 13), Iker Muniain (Spain, 2), Raúl García (Spain, 2), Unai Núñez (Spain, 1), Iñaki Williams (Spain, 1)
Top scorers 2021/22 (all competitions): Iñaki Williams (5), Oihan Scarlet (4), Raul García (3), Nico Williams (3)
The boss
Marcelino García Toral played for Sporting Gijón, Racing Santander, Levante and Elche, and has also managed a wide variety of different teams, including Recreativo, Racing Santander, Zaragoza, Sevilla, Villarreal and Valencia before accepting the job in Bilbao in January of 2021.
In a total of 19 league meetings with Barça at these different clubs, he has never experienced victory, although his sides did defeat the blaugrana in the 2019 Copa del Rey Final (Valencia) and the 2021 Spanish Super Cup Final (Athletic).