THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID — Athletic Bilbao needs to overcome a 2-1 deficit when it hosts Sevilla in the return leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals on Wednesday to reach a record 35th cup final and first since 1985.
Athletic fans waited for up to 20 hours to purchase tickets for the highly anticipated match at the San Mames, which they hope will ease the pain of recent Spanish league relegation battles.
In the other semifinal match, Barcelona leads Mallorca 2-0 from the first leg.
Athletic is focused on winning its 24th Copa del Rey title, even as its Basque-only player policy has left it lacking in the league race. The team from Bilbao trails Spanish leader Barcelona by 29 points and hasn’t won the league title since a double in 1984.
But Sevilla has now won 11 of its last 12 against Athletic. The Andalucian club is in third place in the league and is coming off a 2-1 win at the San Mames on Saturday, when Athletic coach Joaquin Caparros rested key regulars like Spain striker Fernando Llorente, midfielder Javi Martinez and goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz.
Athletic has identified Sevilla’s weak point as its set plays.
"They suffer a lot (in those situations) and we need to take advantage," said Llorente, who has scored 12 league goals. "It’s a team you won’t get too many opportunities to score on."
Caparros can field a full squad while counterpart Manolo Jimenez could welcome back Luis Fabiano and Arouna Kone from injury after both strikers trained Monday.
"On Wednesday they’ll change players and have a different mentality, but we will, too," said Sevilla striker Frederic Kanoute, who scored both goals in the weekend victory. "They’ll be more nervous than us. We’ve got a good advantage and we can’t get sucked into the inferno (the San Mames) will provide."
Record 24-time champion Barcelona is on the verge of reaching its first final in 11 years, although the quest to win three trophies appears to be taking its toll.
Atletico Madrid twice rallied Sunday for a 4-3 win against the Catalan team, which is winless in four games and leads Real Madrid in the league race by only four points. Barcelona, which once led by 12 points, is also in the Champions League, where it drew 1-1 at Lyon last week.
"That’s football. Everybody goes through streaks but we just have to keep believing in ourselves," Barcelona captain Carles Puyol said. "We can’t lose confidence in this team. The most important thing now is to pick up a win as soon as possible."
Forwards Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi and defenders Daniel Alves and Sylvinho didn’t train with the team Monday after picking up minor knocks against Atletico.
Barcelona, which had a 29-game unbeaten run against Spanish opponents before the current slide, still remains a favourite to reach the May 13 final even with Mallorca unbeaten in four league games, with three victories to move up to 16th and two points above the relegation zone.
"It’s difficult and complicated, but that’s football," Mallorca striker Aritz Aduriz said. "Worse things have happened. We’ll go in with hope and try to enjoy ourselves."