Here are a few curious facts that you might not have known about Athletic Club and Real Sociedad. Click this link https://a.meridianbet.ke/c/C7pYjz to start gaming and stand a chance of winning big with Meridianbet.
This fixture has directly yielded championships
The start of the 1980s was dominated by Basque football. Real Sociedad won the league title in the 1980/81 and 1981/82 seasons, before Athletic Club took the LALIGA EA SPORTS crown east to Bilbao in 1982/83 and 1983/84. Incredibly, both clubs actually won one of their titles through this derby. La Real defeated Athletic Club 2-1 on the final day of the 1981/82 campaign to pip FC Barcelona to the title, before a 2-1 Athletic Club victory in the derby two years later saw the title go to Bilbao and not to Real Madrid.
Iconic LALIGA players, past and present, have played in this fixture
Athletic Club is renowned for only fielding players of Basque origin, but they have still boasted some of the most famous players in LALIGA history, including prolific goalscorer Telmo Zarra, goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, and cultured playmaker Julen Guerrero. All eyes are now on the current side’s stars, such as brothers Iñaki Williams and Nico Williams, Spain’s number one between the sticks, Unai Simón, and playmaker Oihan Sancet.
La Real used to have a similar policy of fielding only Basque players, but broke with tradition to bring in Liverpool striker John Aldridge in the late 1980s. While the likes of Darko Kovačević and Nihat Kahveci have starred up front in the past, today’s side is spearheaded by Spanish players Mikel Oyarzabal, Martín Zubimendi, and Brais Méndez, as well as foreign stars such as Take Kubo.
Real Sociedad had never knocked Athletic Club out of the cup – until a very special cup final in 2021!
For many years, Athletic Club had the better of La Real in the Copa del Rey, coming out on top in all three ties the teams contested. The team from Bilbao won 5-1 on aggregate during the 1960/61 last 16, 3-1 on aggregate in the 1971/72 quarter-final, and via a penalty shootout in the 1974/75 quarter-finals after a 4-4 draw on aggregate.
Yet all that changed in 2021, when Real Sociedad beat their closest rivals 1-0 in a hard-fought 2020 Copa del Rey final, postponed for a year due to the COVID crisis. A goal from club icon Mikel Oyarzabal was enough to separate the two sides, handing La Real their first title in 34 years in the sweetest possible way. Good things come to those who wait, as they say.
