The hardest yet, in ’78

This Thursday, San Mamés will experience a match with a true Copa flavor. Another classic in between Athletic Bilbao and Atlético de Madrid, opponents of works on the edge of the impossible. A match in the final of La Cartuja is at stake, with all the ingredients for fun and that will start with the advantage in the first leg of the Bilbao team (0-1).

He Athletic stick back to the epic for a very complex return. On another night like that lived in February 1978 in the old ‘Cathedral’. So, he made one himself. The hardest yet. An amazing trip.

On January 18, 1978, in the round of 16, Atlético lost the first leg (1-2) at the Vicente Calderón stadium. Loyal scored in the 5th minute (1-0). Danny tied (1-1), with a penalty, in the 35th minute and Carlos He made it 1-2 in the 52nd minute. In that absence he appeared at the old San Mamés on February 8.

In Luis Aragones as a coach, it is Juan Jose Rubio, the ‘shy’, debutant in the first team that year, an elusive winger, who became a figure of success to remember. The young player exploded in the second half to score two of his team’s four goals and the decisive penalty in the shootout that sealed the pass.

Before, in the 11th minute, Marcellin scored his goal by giving the ball to Reina in the face of harassment from Strain and at 46 Julio Alberto He also beat his goalkeeper by heading in an attempt to clear a cross. Slang. Two own goals and 2-0, a result that, along with the first leg, forced the visitors to score three goals in the second half to force extra time. At half-time everything seemed to be decided.

However, it came out Blonde on the playing field to change Albert and four minutes into the second action the winger, 1.65 meters tall, closed the gap for his team (2-1). In the 69th minute, Aguilar He made a shot from 30 meters that was impossible Iribar (2-2) and in injury time, minute 93, Ruben Cano made the score 2-3.

In extra time, in the 97th minute, Carlos He got the tie in three and in the 117th the referee, the Catalan Tomeo Palanque, declared a penalty in favor of Atlético (red shirt and white shorts that night). The maximum penalty angered the public, who filled the Iribar area with pads and delayed the kick for up to seven minutes. Blonde He made it a goal (3-4), leaving the resolution of the tie to the fate of penalties.

THIS IS THE PENALTY SHOOTOUT

In the first round, 4-4 (Martial, purpose; Dani, purpose; Rubén Cano, goal; Churruca, purpose; Loyal, for Iribar; Guisasola, post; Aguilar, goal; Aitor Aguirre, goal; Ayala, goal and Escalza, gol). In the second, Lasa shoots and for Reina and the responsibility of the definitive is on Rubio. The little end mark. Rubio is the man of the match.

“San Mamés experienced one of the unforgettable encounters last night, strange because it’s complicated, exciting because of the score’s progression, indescribable because of the amount of surprising action in the more than three hours it took,” he described the next day ABC. “Lousy, horrible, horrible refereeing by the Catalan Tomeo Palanqué. No authority, no class and, apparently, no clock on time. It led to most of the famous fights and throwing of pads and, regardless of the merits of each team , can influence the final result,” he added.

Atlético fell in the quarterfinals against Las Palmas (they won 3-2 at the Calderón and lost 2-0 at the Estadio Insular) in a Cup that Barcelona finally won by beating Las Palmas itself in the final (3-1). From that contest, the rojiblancos remember the historic night of San Mamés. This Thursday they are holding it.