Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat in the Spanish Super Cup on Thursday as Athletic Bilbao pulled off a 2-1 victory in Malaga to reach Sunday’s final against Barcelona.
Raul Garcia scored twice in the first half, the second a penalty, and while Karim Benzema pulled one back for the defending champions, Bilbao held on to complete a statement win under their new coach Marcelino Garcia Toral.
Bilbao were beaten 3-2 by Barca in La Liga only last week, with Lionel Messi scoring twice at San Mames, yet they will get another shot at Ronald Koeman’s side this weekend, with a trophy up for grabs in Seville.
“We are 90 minutes from winning a title,” said Marcelino. “It would be amazing, and even better to do it beating Real Madrid and Barcelona.”
Real coach Zinedine Zidane was defiant in defeat. “It is not a failure,” he said. “You can’t win every game.”
Messi is touch and go to be fit for the final, after missing Wednesday’s penalty shoot-out victory over Real Sociedad with a muscle problem.
Raul Garcia was sent off after 13 minutes when Real Madrid beat Bilbao in the league last month but this time he had two goals in the first half, each coming after a mistake by Lucas Vazquez.
First, Vazquez gave the ball away cheaply, allowing Raul Garcia to finish past Courtois and then Madrid’s full-back dragged Inigo Martinez down at the back post after letting him sneak in behind him.
Raul Garcia drove the penalty into the top corner and Bilbao might have been three up had Iker Muniain finished off a flowing move by heading in, instead of wide of the post.
