Athletic Club dreams of a fourth Supercopa

With just over 24 hours to go before the first semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup, Athletic Club held their final training session ahead of the match. Prior to that, head coach Ernesto Valverde and captain Iñaki Williams spoke to the media at the official press conference.

Basques and Catalans already met in the first semifinal of the 2025 edition, a match that ended with a 0–2 win for Barcelona.

Valverde is set to take part in the Supercopa for the seventh time, having coached three different teams in the competition: Athletic Club, FC Barcelona, and RCD Espanyol. He is also a two-time Supercopa champion, lifting the trophy in 2016 with Athletic and in 2019 while on the Barcelona bench. Athletic Club, who have three Supercopas in their trophy cabinet, will be aiming to reach their sixth final in the competition against Barça.

“We have an opportunity and we want to take advantage of it,” Valverde said. The Extremadura-born coach explained that his goal is “to build positive momentum and gain the confidence that helps us believe we can win every match, no matter the opponent.” He concluded by stressing the significance of the occasion: “It’s an incredible honor to come here and compete for a Supercopa. We’ll give everything on the pitch.”

For his part, Iñaki Williams admitted the team is “really eager, because competing for a title is always special,” and doing so “while representing Athletic is something truly beautiful.” The Bilbao forward, a two-time Supercopa winner in 2016 and 2021, knows the path to success: “We’ve already shown we can win a Supercopa against Madrid and Barça, and we’re going to try to start 2026 in the best possible way and make our fans feel proud and connected to their team.”

The Ghana international left no doubts about Athletic’s intentions this week in Jeddah: “We’ve come here to win.” Speaking about their semifinal opponent, Barcelona, he added: “They have attacking players who decide matches. Because of their style of play, we’ll have to use space, but we feel comfortable doing that.”

After the press conferences, Athletic Club completed their official training session on the adjacent pitch at Alinma Stadium, within King Abdullah Sports City. The available players trained on the grass under Ernesto Valverde’s guidance on the eve of Wednesday’s clash with FC Barcelona. The Basque side will be aiming for their fourth Spanish Super Cup title in their eighth appearance in the competition.

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