Prior to Wednesday's Copa del Rey match Athletic Bilbao had yet to lose at the new San Mamés with Elche and Valencia being the only teams to leave the stadium with points. Thanks to goals from Raúl García and Diego Costa, that streak is over as Atleético Madrid won 2-1, advancing to the semifinals with a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Athletic Bilbao vs. Atlético Madrid: Final score 1-2, Atléti the first team to defeat Athletic at the new San Mamés
Atlético Madrid handed Athletic Bilbao their first loss at the new San Mamés and advanced to the semifinal of the Copa del Rey.
Atleético Madrid came out of the gate strong and nearly doubled their aggregate advantage in the opening minute when Diego Costa roared in against Iago Herrerín, but was denied by the Athletic goalkeeper.
Athletic settled after the initial flurry and slowly took control of the match, building up pressure against Atéti until finally in the 42nd minute they opened the scoring.
A short pass from the corner of the box out to Mikel Balenziaga on the wing near the touchline set up the play. The Athletic defender whipped a rising ball back across the area where Aritz Aduriz powered up and over Diego Godiín and directed a header between Thibault Courtois and the far post to give Atheltic a 1-0 lead on the day and pull them even on aggregate.
Aduriz just missed doubling the lead a minute later, once again getting space in the box and powering up for a header. This time Courtois got down quickly, diving to his right and blocking the shot away with a one-handed save.
Atléti looked like a different team in the second half and immediately pressed Atheltic back into their defensive third. Herrerín did his best to stem the tide, but in the 54th minute, Atléti broke through.
After Raúl García’s initial volleyed effort was blocked by Herrerín, the ball was cycled back out to the left before being fired back in to García who again unleashed a volley, this time with less power, that eluded the Atheltic keeper and tied the match at 1-1. More importantly for Atléti, it have them both a 2-1 aggregate lead and an away goal.
In the 86th minute Diego Costa beat a poor attempt to catch him offside near midfield and ran onto a long ball, completely unmarked against Herrerín. The Atheltic keeper did his best to cut down Costa’s angle, but the striker dribbled inside and around the keeper and rolled the ball into the net for his first goal of 2014, putting Atléti up 2-1 on the day.
Atlético Madrid will face Real Madrid in the semifinals.
Athletic Bilbao: Iago, Laporte, Mikel, Iraola, Balenziaga, Iturraspe, Susaeta (Sola 73’), Mikel Rico (Gomez 66’), Herrera (Benat 78’), Muniaín, Aduriz
Goals: Aduriz (42’)
Atlético Madrid: Courtois, Godiín, Filipe Luis (Insua 14’), Miranda, Juanfran, Koke, García, Rodriguez, Gabi, Diego Costa (Alderweireld 90+1’), Adrián (Sosa 80’)
Goals: García (55’), Costa (86’)
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