Last chance to be in the final on May 6th. The pure draw held in the Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas, which featured the innocent hand of the new national coach Luis de La Fuente, He gave two high-voltage clashes in the semifinals of the KO tournament: Osasuna-Athletic and Real Madrid-Barcelona. That duel to the death of playing a single match as in previous rounds is over, now the fans of both teams will be able to see their players in their stadiums. That is, they will be played back and forth. The dates will be different from those initially planned due to the Club World Cup. Real Madrid will not be able to play the first leg on February 8 as they are in Morocco, which will force the entire first leg of the semifinals to be moved from February 28 to March 2 at the Bernabéu and Sadar; The return will be held on April 4, 5 or 6, at the Camp Nou and San Mamés.
The Copa del Rey has semifinals to make history. It has all the ingredients for it: there are the three teams that have won the KO tournament the most times (the first time in 37 years), a rebel who seeks to win his first title (Osasuna) and four tickets. Yes Four. Two for the Cup final, which will be played on May 6 at La Cartuja, and another two for the next Super Cup. So the rojillo feat can be double… But it won’t be easy. But depending on who agrees, it could cause an incentive in LaLiga, since the third party could also go.
Osasuna aspires to its first major national title and equal the feat achieved in 2005, when they reached the Cup final and caressed the title, but lost in extra time against Betis. Now they seek to make history and achieve this twisted. The rojillos are the only unpublished of the semifinalists. It contrasts with Barcelona, king of Cups with 31 in its showcases and the last one won was in 2021. Real Madrid has to look further back, since this title has resisted it since 2014, when Ancelotti was also coach and he beat the blaugrana in the final. Athletic, the second team with the most Copas del Rey (23) ahead of the whites (19), have a love-hate relationship with this competition: they were the kings of the tournament, but since 1984 they have not managed to win it and since then they have fallen in six finals.
Real Madrid–Barcelona
early final touch. The two giants of Spanish football will meet in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey, a tournament in which they have met up to 35 times, leaving a favorable balance of 15 victories for the blaugrana, 12 for the whites and eight draws. Although this duel will have a special aroma. They have already met twice this season: Real Madrid won 3-1 at the Bernabéu in the first leg; but in mid-January, Barcelona won the Spanish Super Cup by defeating the whites 1-3. All this without forgetting the fight for the League title (the Catalans were ahead of Ancelotti’s men by five points) and that by dates the round trip will be played between another Clásico, that of LaLiga (March 19). It is full of Classics.
Fate is so capricious that this is not the first time they have seen each other in the semifinals. What’s more, the first and last time they have met in this tournament was in this very round.. In 1916, when they were measured for the first time, there were neither overtime nor penalties and after the tie was tied (also round trip), they had to resort to two tiebreakers: the first ended 6-6 and in the second was imposed by Real Madrid 4-2. On the other hand, the last time they met in the KO tournament was in the 2018-19 season and the tie went to the Catalans: the first leg, at the Camp Nou, ended 1-1; while Barcelona qualified for the final by winning 0-3 at the Bernabéu. Of course, the title would end up taking Valencia.
Osasuna-Athletic
Great duel in the north of Spain. A revelation team against a historic Cup. Both dream of winning the title with the final of the Cartuja, but they also aspire to get a ticket for the next edition of the Super Cup. This has been the fourth time that they have been matched, but it has always resulted in the round pass for Athletic. The rojillos have only managed to beat the lions on one occasion: in the first leg of the 1961 round of 32, the rest of the clashes resulted in three victories for those from Bilbao and two draws. But this time it will not be so easy for Valverde’s men, as they already verified at the beginning of January in San Mamés, when they did not go from 0-0. History accompanies Athletic, but Osasuna is living a great moment. Proof of this is that the rojillos accumulate two more places in the League and are at the gates of Europe.