Mark van Bommel with Antwerp again in Belgian cup final, Athletic Bilbao in Spanish cup final for fortieth time | Foreign football

‘The Great Old’ defeated KV Oostende, which is thirteenth in the second level in Belgium, in the semi-finals of the Belgian Cup. The first leg on February 8 on the Belgian coast ended in 1-1.

On Thursday evening, Royal Antwerp won 3-0 at the Bosuil Stadium in Antwerp with two goals from 17-year-old Nigerian attacker George Ilenikhena and one from 20-year-old defender Zeno Van Den Bosch in the 26th minute. Ilenikhena opened the score after fifteen minutes and also made it 3-0 in the 88th minute.

Vincent Janssen, who played as a shadow striker, was brought off fifteen minutes before the end by Van Bommel, who brought on Jurgen Ekkelenkamp in the 70th minute.

Royal Antwerp previously won the Belgian Cup in 1955, 1992, 2020 and 2023. Last season, Royal Antwerp won the Belgian double for the first time in the club’s rich history, when ‘The Great Old’ from 1880 became national champion in Belgium again after 66 years. . That was the fifth national title in club history. A sixth national title is very unlikely to happen this year.

Royal Antwerp is having a difficult season as defending champions and is fourth with 45 points, twenty points less than Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and twelve less than Anderlecht. At the start of the championship play-offs, in which six clubs will now participate, all clubs will first hand in half of the points they achieved in the competition. There are still three rounds to go before the play-offs start.

Royal Antwerp will face Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in the Belgian cup final, which defeated Club Brugge in the semi-finals. The final is traditionally played in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels.

Should Royale Union Saint-Gilloise reach the semi-finals of the Conference League, the Belgian Cup final will be postponed to Monday, May 20. Royale Union Saint-Gilloise will face Fenerbahçe in the round of 16 in March.

In Spain, Athletic Club from Bilbao reached the final of the Copa del Rey for the fortieth time in club history. The Basque won 3-0 against Atlético Madrid in San Mamés, after winning the first leg 0-1 in Metropolitano three weeks ago.

Iñaki Williams (Ghana international) opened the scoring after thirteen minutes in the swirling San Mamés in Bilbao. Three minutes before halftime, his brother Nico Williams (Spain international) made it 2-0. Gorka Guruzeta even made it 3-0 fifteen minutes after the break, which meant it was all over for Diego Simeone’s team. Memphis Depay came on for Atlético Madrid in the 54th minute, but could no longer make the difference.

Athletic Club has won the Copa del Rey 23 times so far. The last time was in the 1983/1984 season, when Diego Maradona’s FC Barcelona were defeated in Madrid. Since then, the Basque pride has lost no fewer than six finals in the Spanish Cup. Record winner FC Barcelona (31 final victories) was in the Spanish cup final 42 times, Real Madrid won the twentieth Copa del Rey in forty finals last year.

Real Mallorca qualified on Tuesday evening for the Spanish Cup final, which will be played again in the Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville at the beginning of April. The number sixteen of La Liga, where Mexican coach Javier Aguirre is at the helm, won on penalties against Real Sociedad.

Atlético Madrid fans were injured in Bilbao before the start of the half in a confrontation in a bar with supporters of the home club. Several Madrid supporters had to be taken to hospital with injuries. Atlético chairman Enrique Cerezo speaks in conversation with Movistar Plus+ about “several seriously injured people”.

It was uneasy outside the stadium in Bilbao for a long time before the match. According to Cerezo, Atlético supporters were attacked by hooligans from Athletic Club. They sustained injuries. Nothing is yet known about their exact condition.