Copa del Rey. The final opposed the second best in Spanish football, both teams eager to win a trophy.
Atletico Madrid vs
Athletic Bilbao.
The final was played on Santiago Bernabeu, so Atletico had slight advantage, playing in front of home crowd and invigorated by having a chance to win on the turf of the enemy. An enemy, which had miserable season and could only watch in envy. However, this was not big advantage – Atheltic was equally ambitious, experienced, and traditionally loved to sting Madrid. But it was not their day – Atletico prevailed 2-1.
Retrospectively, one can say that Athletic Bilbao was just a bit over their peak – nothing dangerous in itself, but combined with the other small disadvantages may have tipped the scales against them. Losing by a goal is not a sign of weakness, yet, losing is losing no matter the circumstances.
The winners were in good shape for sure. Standing from left: Votava, Ruiz, Mejias, Clemente, Landaburu, Arteche.
First row: Julio Prieto, Marina, Hugo Sánchez, Quique Ramos, Rubio.
Good, but not great. Mirko Votava was not a prime West German star and so it went for the Spanish players. Except Hugo Sanchez, Atletico had no other top class star. But the team was well shaped and ascending, unlike Athletic Bilbao. Home support helped. Desire to rub the noses of Real Madrid by winning on their stadium helped. Small things, but at the end victory was theirs – Atletico won its 6th Cup. Almost 10 years after winning the 5th – like Barcelona, they had to wait a decade for new victory. Sweet success by all measures, unfortunately coming with heavy price – Hugo Sanchez was moving to hated Real Madrid.