News Archive

Copa del Rey - quarter finals

The surprises in this new-look cup continued on into Thursday, with Real Madrid and Barcelona both knocked out of the competition! Real Madrid were beaten 3-4 by Real Sociedad, who are in to last four for the first time in six years. Zidane put out a much-changed side, but on-loan Odegaard opened the scoring for the visitors midway through the first half, and Isak scored two more in as many minutes soon after the restart. Marcelo fired one back three minutes later, but Mikel Merino connected with Isak’s cross to make it four with twenty minutes to go. Madrid didn’t give up though, Vinicius having a strike ruled out before setting up Rodrygo for a second, and Nacho headed in a third following a corner in injury time. Gorosabel was sent off after that, but the clock ran down seconds later.

For the first time in ten years neither of the big two will be in the semi-final draw after Barcelona lost 0-1 to Athletic Bilbao later in the evening! The two teams have the most titles in the competition, the Catalans with 30 (including four wins and a second place in the last five years), and their hosts with 23, albeit none since 1984. Quique Setien’s team dominated for most of the match, Unai Simón making key saves from Ansu Fati, Griezmann and Messi, and De Jong having a good penalty appeal turned down. However with the tie in injury time Williams headed an Ibai Gómez cross wide of Ter Stegen to send the San Mamés stadium wild. It was fitting revenge for the two final defeats they have suffered against Barça in recent years, and an all-Basque final against old rivals Real Sociedad is now a real possibility. (06.02.20)

Second division Mirandés are in to the semi-finals for the second time in 8 years after they beat Villarreal 4-2 on Wednesday! Iraola’s team had already knocked out Celta and Sevilla, and cup top scorer Matheus put them in front early on. Ontiveras levelled it with a free kick, but Merquelanz restored the lead from the penalty spot on the stroke of half time after Quintillà handled in the area. Cazorla made it all square again with another penalty after Odei handled the ball, but the defender made up for his mistake when he scrambled in the third just two minutes later, and Antonio Sánchez wrapped things up on a quick counter-attack in injury time. (05.02.20)

Defending champions Valencia are out of the cup after they lost 2-1 to Granada on Tuesday! Soldado fired the locals into the lead in only the third minute, but Rodrigo had a strike rule out for a borderline offside before he got on the end of Coquelin’s cross to equalise shortly before the break. However, with extra time looming, the VAR official signalled to the referee that Jaume Costa had handled the ball in the area, and Soldado drilled home the resulting spot kick to take the Andalusians into the semi-finals for the first time in over 50 years. (04.02.20)