Copa del Rey – Athletic Bilbao-Barcelona
Athletic Bilbao hosts Barcelona at the San Mames Barria in the most interesting game from the 1/4-finals of the Copa del Rey. We will talk about this match a little bit more now, so let’s go.
For Athletic Bilbao it was really dramatic to reach the 1/4-finals of the competition. In the previous round the Basques visited Tenerife at the Canary Islands and it was not easy, because they actually needed penalties in order to progress. In 120 minutes of football Tenerife and Athletic scored each other six goals in total with the game ending 3-3. Inaki Williams scored a brace for the Basques, while Yuri scored a precious equalising goal in the 118th minute.
During the penalties Inigo Martinez missed for Athletic, but Tenerife missed one more and they got kicked out from the competition.
For Barcelona it’s always difficult to visit the San Mames Barria. This season the Catalans already lost once at this stadium when they played the Basques in La Liga. This was when Barca were still managed by Ernesto Valverde, who is now replaced by Quique Setien.
Last week Barcelona were merciless in their 1/8-finals game against Leganes at the Camp Nou. The match ended with a 5-0 win for Los Cules and it was Quique Setien’s biggest win with the team so far. Lionel Messi scored a brace for Barca, while Antoine Griezmann, Clement Lenglet and Arthur also scored for the hosts.
Whoever thinks that Barcelona will have it easy against Athletic Bilbao clearly does not know well Spanish football. It’s very difficult for the visiting teams to play in this city and for Barca it won’t be an exception. The Catalans must be at the top of their game in order to win here. We already saw this when these two teams met in La Liga recently.