{"id":29064,"date":"2024-04-04T20:01:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T20:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca"},"modified":"2024-04-04T20:34:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T20:34:28","slug":"spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca","title":{"rendered":"Spain coach expects even Cup final between Athletic and Mallorca"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. <\/strong><\/span>Spain coach Luis de la Fuente expects Saturday\u2019s Copa del Rey final between Athletic Club Bilbao and Mallorca to be a close and hard-fought game featuring two different styles of football.<\/p>\n

De la Fuente had two spells with Athletic Club and was part of the team that beat FC Barcelona 1-0 in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in 1984. That was the last time that the Basque side lifted the trophy, but there are high hopes that after losing six finals in the past 40 years, this year will see the end to that long wait.<\/p>\n

The Spain coach included four Athletic Club players in his recent squad for games against Colombia and Brazil (Nico Williams, Oihan Sancet, Dani Vivian and Unai Simon), but warns that the game will be much tougher than some think.<\/p>\n

\u201cMallorca have reached the final on their own merits, beating Real Sociedad in the semifinals. Athletic don\u2019t have anything won, they have to do things very well to be champions \u2014 the same as Mallorca. The final is very well-balanced,\u201d advised De la Fuente.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed out that Mallorca\u2019s form is improving in 2024, while their defence has seen them only concede more than one goal just once (away to Real Sociedad, when they had a player sent off in the first half) in their last nine games.<\/p>\n

\u201cMallorca\u2019s form has improved, while Athletic are recovering after a dip in results, but a final is very different and Mallorca look very focused. I think the fact some people see Athletic as favourites helps Mallorca and Athletic can\u2019t be too confident,\u201d said De la Fuente.<\/p>\n

The Spain coach highlighted the pace, dribbling and wing-play of Athletic Club\u2019s winger Nico Williams, adding that he could \u201cmark an era\u201d at the club.<\/p>\n

De la Fuente also looked back at the 1984 final, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s a great satisfaction to see the team you love play the Cup final. It\u2019s the best competition there is.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eritrea<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente expects Saturday\u2019s Copa del Rey final between Athletic Club Bilbao and Mallorca to be a close and hard-fought game featuring two different styles of football. De la Fuente had two spells with Athletic Club and was part of the team that beat FC Barcelona 1-0 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":29063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[242,243,233],"class_list":["post-29064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eritrea","tag-eritrea"],"yoast_head":"\nSpain coach expects even Cup final between Athletic and Mallorca - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Spain coach Luis de la Fuente expects Saturday\u2019s Copa del Rey final between Athletic Club Bilbao and Mallorca to be a cl ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spain coach expects even Cup final between Athletic and Mallorca\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Spain coach Luis de la Fuente expects Saturday\u2019s Copa del Rey final between Athletic Club Bilbao and Mallorca to be a cl ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-04T20:01:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-04T20:34:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2024\/04\/sm_1712246477.392485.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"991\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"673\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Spain coach expects even Cup final between Athletic and Mallorca\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-04T20:01:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-04T20:34:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca\"},\"wordCount\":349,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2024\/04\/sm_1712246477.392485.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eritrea\",\"Eritrea\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/spain-coach-expects-even-cup-final-between-athletic-and-mallorca\",\"name\":\"Spain coach expects even Cup final between Athletic and Mallorca - 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