Athletic Bilbao are through to the final of the Copa del Rey, thanks to their 6-2 home victory on Tuesday night, giving them a 8-3 aggregate win over minnows Mirandes. Somehow advancing all the way to the semifinals despite their third division status, Mirandes never went into a shell and tried to outplay their opponents for 180 minutes. As the score indicates, they came up a bit short.
Athletic Bilbao Vs. Mirandes, 2012 Copa Del Rey Semifinals: Los Leones Win 6-2
The opening half hour was all Athletic. Iker Munian scored in the 11th minute with a fantastic finish, and Markel Susaeta doubled the lead just three minutes later with a nice strike of his own, following up on a scramble and a couple of blocked Athletic shots. Jon Aurtenetxe made it 3-0 to Athletic on the night and 5-1 on aggregate in the 22nd minute, heading in a corner.
Athletic slowed things down at that point and went into halftime up 3-0. Aldeano Aitor Blanco got one back for Mirandes off a mad scramble in the box in the 56th minute, and that opened things up considerably. Fernando Llorente would score the next two goals, the first with a brilliant chip in the 71st minute and the second just four minutes later with a tap-in. Blanco gave Mirandes a second goal in the 86th minute before his teammate Fernandez Cesar Caneda gifted Athletic their sixth on the night with an 88th minute own goal.
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