Spanish Supercup: Nothin’s Wrong

By: Paul | August 17th, 2009

Yesterday, Athletic failed once again to pick up silverware, falling 2-1 to Barcelona in the Spanish Supercup.Unfortunately, I got dragged out with my parents for something that will “only take a minute”, but ended up making me miss most of the game, returning just in time to watch the final 3 or 4 minutes of the game. I must say, though, that unlike some of Athletic’s other recent displays, this is one that I’m not too upset about. I still have concerns with the team (I’ll get to those soon) but here’s why the loss does not bother me.

First, Oscar de Marcos scored his first goal for Athletic. Now, it may not seem like a huge deal that he scored, but remember- he’s a young player who came to Athletic from a weak team. De Marcos did a great job to beat Barca’s defenders and scrape out a goal. He has looked up for the challenge in Athletic’s other games and finally scored against what is likely the strongest team in the world right now. Then again, Toquero scored in the Copa Del Rey final against the same team, and I don’t rate him too highly myself.

Second, Barcelona is a great team (as mentioned above). This was a game I did not expect Athletic to win, and they didn’t. I’m not happy that they lost the game, but I’m satisfied with the final score. Also mentioned above was the 2009 Copa Del Rey final, and I don’t think I need to mention the scoreline for that one.

Finally, we need to remember that the Supercup really isn’t all that important of a game. These competitions are viewed as the season’s curtain-raiser in Spain and other countries that they’re played, so they are played not much different from a friendly. When I saw the final whistle of the game, the Athletic players were still smiling and clapping- no tears as we saw after the Copa defeat. See picture below for what I’m talking about:

Despite the fact that I am not disheartened by yesterday’s match, a few things still concern me and at the top of the list of those concerns is the strikers. Munian looks good but is still very young and needs to develop, Toquero isn’t all that good, and de Cerio is coming off of a long injury layover. I wish we could have brought in one more striker (and we all know which one I wanted to see come to San Mames), but that isn’t going to happen. On top of the weak striking unit in place, the other Llorente already with the team hasn’t looked to great so far. If he doesn’t start showing up, it’s very likely that the rest of the team will falter as well. Hopefully once the season gets going Llorente finds his feet and the rest of the strikers can at least complement him up front.

So, it’s back to the Europa League on the 20th and 27th when Athletic will take on Tromso (from Norway),and then Athletic will kick off the season 10 days later against Espanyol.

Oh, and, before I go: this is why I do not like Rafa Benitez.