JAKARTA - Real Sociedad challenged Atletico Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey after eliminating Athletic Bilbao. In the second semifinal match at the Reale Arena Stadium, Thursday, March 5, 2026 WIB, Sociedad won 1-0 over Athletic in the Basque Derby.
The American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo was able to achieve success when entering the Spanish League. Matarazzo was able to turn Sociedad into a team that was taken into account again. Interestingly, the coach who is still 48 years old was only brought to Sociedad in December last year.
Even though he only had three months to handle Sociedad replacing Sergio Francisco, he immediately showed satisfactory performance. Matarazzo brought Sociedad to survive in the middle of the table by ranking eighth in the Spanish LaLiga standings.
Not stopping there, the real Matarazzo who never had a career as a player or coach in Spain actually brought La Real to the Copa del Rey final. The 1-0 victory in the second semi-final made Sociedad ahead 2-0 on aggregate. The reason is that in the first match at home to Athletic at the San Mames Stadium, they also won 1-0.
The result makes Sociedad never lose in the last 10 matches in the derby at home against Athletic. The opponent who defeated Sociedad when winning the 2020 Copa del Rey.
The success of advancing to the final brings Sociedad to face Atletico, who previously eliminated the top team Barcelona. In the second semifinal, Atletico lost 3-0 but they still had a 4-3 aggregate lead so they qualified for the final match held in Seville, April 18.
Even though he managed to bring the team to the final, Matarazzo assessed that it was inseparable from the impressive performance of his players. The coach who played more in small clubs in Germany did not hesitate to give an appreciation to Mikel Oyarzabal et al.
"I am very proud of what the players have done, especially over the last two months. They showed an incredible performance," Matarazzo said as quoted by france24.
"Since our first game on January 4... and now we're in the final [of the Copa del Rey]. We're really just playing effective football and we hope to keep it up. Now, we're in the final and want to be champions," he said.
Meanwhile, defender Jon Martin said that the victory in the first semi-final made them play more confidently. Moreover, Sociedad performed at home which made them more excited when facing Athletic.
"I think the one-goal advantage really helped us. Besides that, we were able to keep the tempo of the game well," said Martin. "We don't want a lot of things to happen. And we did it well," he said again.
In the match, Sociedad took the initiative to attack. They also played better and midfielder Carlos Soler almost broke the guest team's goal. Only Soler's free kick that led to the top corner of the goal could be stopped by goalkeeper Alex Padilla.
Furthermore, Sociedad still dominated and excelled in ball possession. It's just that they failed to finish every opportunity that was created.
At least there were two opportunities when Soler again threatened the Athletic goal. But his efforts were thwarted by defender Aitor Paredes. Likewise, Goncalo Guedes' shot was still wide, which made no goals until the first half ended.
In the second half, Athletic tried to rise after successfully getting out of pressure. The performance of the team coached by Ernesto Valverde was better than Sociedad. They created opportunities through Alejandro Berenguer who received a pass from Inaki Williams. Only his kick was still wide.
Despite being under pressure, Sociedad finally managed to bounce back and regain control of the game. The hosts also got the chance to take the lead after Athletic defender Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta committed a foul in the penalty area towards the end of the match. He pulled off Yangel Herrera's jersey who tried to enter the Los Leones defense area.
The referee reviewed the incident via VAR. The result was a foul in the incident and the referee pointed to the white spot. The penalty was executed well by Oyarzabal who outwitted goalkeeper Padilla. The goal in the 87th minute changed the score to 1-0 for Sociedad and lasted until the end of the match.
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