Forty years and it all came down to a single kick. At 00.51 in the morning in Seville, Alex Berenguer stood by the penalty spot, handed one shot, one opportunity to seize everything they ever wanted. Across four decades and five consecutive defeated finals, Athletic Club had been close but never as close as this and they were not going to let go, not now. Berenguer skipped to one side, ran towards the ball, smashed it into the bottom corner of net and just kept on running: over the advertising boards, across the track, and towards the thousands and thousands of fans celebrating their first major trophy in a generation.
Unmoor the barge they dared not name. Athletic’s traditional, almost mystical mode of transport when it comes to celebrating titles, its picture seemingly on every wall in the city, its mere mention provoking nostalgia and longing, can finally set sail again. Take it down the Nervion river and past San Mames for the first time since 1984. Back then, a million people lined the route; now, there may even be more. “There were ten commandments in the dressing room: one was not mentioning the barge; now I want to experience it for myself,” Nico Williams said. “It’s been forty years, let’s see if it still floats,” joked Unai Simon.
Exhausted, Athletic had been made to suffer. They had conceded first and they had to fight back. They had been taken to extra time and all the way to penalties – which is to say that, in fact, it had gone as Mallorca had planned. They had feared that they might fall again, the goal they sought refusing to arrive. But, in the shootout they tried to avoid, they won the Copa del Rey for the twenty-fourth time. It had been some wait, and some battle too: there was genuine admiration as Athletic’s fans applauded Real Mallorca when they collected their runners up medals.
Mallorca had put their bodies on the line, heroic to the last. They had headed every ball, thrown themselves at every foot, blocked endless shots, and they had reached another shootout. They had done the same in the semi-final against the Basque Country’s other great club, Real Sociedad: getting there again was part of the plan and they had celebrated it too, leaping about and cheering in the huddle before being called to the spot, just as they had back then. This time, though, it wasn’t to be.
The 23-year-old Julen Aguirrebalaga, Athletic’s back up goalkeeper, saved from Manu Morlanes and Nemanja Radonjić shot over, to leave Sancet – the goalscorer in normal time – to make history. In the end, it was Athletic who went up to lift that cup. It had been a long, hard night – how could it not be – but here they were.
