Iñaki Williams' 6,000 express kilometers and Xavi's "head held high" in another disaster: "A single match in the opposite field is difficult"

Athletic had beaten Barça in the last two overtimes that both teams had played, the final of the 2021 Super Cup and the round of 16 of the 2022 Copa del Rey.. This year, extra time at San Mamés once again ruled against Xavi Hernández's team, who managed to overcome Guruzeta's initial goal but succumbed in the final stretch.

It was a dramatic start for Barça, one more in a season that already has too many negative starts.. In the League, Granada scored after 17 seconds and Alavés at 18; In the Champions League, Antwerp scored at 75. And in the Cup, Guruzeta touched Iñaki Peña's net at 36.

Lewandowski, on the rebound, and Yamal, who became the second youngest scorer in the Cup in the last 30 years, made it 1-2. The Barça player is 16 years and 195 days old, Eto'o was 16 and 184 in 1997, when he scored for Leganés.

From there, drama was born for Barça against a superior Athletic team that left Xavi's team without one of the most affordable titles of the year.. Not because of the quality of their rivals, but because of the few games necessary to lift the trophy. In the Champions League they must overcome three qualifying rounds before being able to play in the final and in the League they are 7 points behind Madrid and 8 behind Girona, although Míchel's team has one more game.

Xavi's team has missed out on two titles in the month of January, and both with a disastrous image. 4-1 in the Spanish Super Cup and 4-2 in San Mamés after the goals of the Williams brothers. An elimination that forces the Blaugrana to climb back to one of the top two places in the League in order to travel to the next Arabian Super Cup.

“We can be proud”

“I already said in the draw that we had not had luck with the rival,” Xavi admitted to the media. “We have tried, I think we have competed well against a great team that is very strong at home. We had the winning goal with Lamine's chance. We can be proud,” said the coach.

The Barça coach confessed that “we have not had the best possible scenario. When it is a single match in the opposite field… It is difficult to win. That is the Cup.” “We leave with our heads held high for competing with young guys. I'm calm, the most important titles remain,” he concluded.

On the pitch, Ronald Araujo lamented, although he tried to be positive: “It's sad to lose this game and be left out of the Cup. We wanted to fight for this title but I'm left with the fact that we compete with many casualties, many young people… We have to be more intelligent with one minute left,” he recalled, regarding Nico Williams' goal, Athletic's fourth.

“It's a hard blow but we have to keep fighting. We have an important game against Naples. We are going to fight until the end for this shirt,” added the Uruguayan.

Iñaki: “Not even in the best of dreams”

The duel left one hero above the rest: Iñaki Williams. The forward arrived at Athletic's training camp on Wednesday morning directly from the African Cup, which has been held in recent weeks in the Ivory Coast. 6,000 kilometers of travel to enter the second half and score 3-2 in extra time.

“Not even in the best of dreams. Yesterday I did not imagine being here after a very hard blow… Thanks to Athletic,” he declared, summarizing his last 24 hours a bit: “Everything was very fast, the trip was long “and I haven't even been able to rest but I wanted to be here. Even if I hadn't played I wanted to help the team.”