Published
Dominated by Athletic Bilbao, the Merengues gave in at the very end of the match and will not see the semi-finals of the Spanish Cup.
Real Madrid’s Casemiro (left, background) and Isco (right) were surprised at San Mamés.
AFP
Surprise in the King’s Cup! Real Madrid were eliminated 1-0 in the Spanish Cup quarter-final by Athletic Bilbao. The Basques join Valencia, Rayo Vallecano and Betis Sevilla in the semi-finals and will have the opportunity to reach a third consecutive final, after their routs in the final of the 2020 and 2021 editions.
12 days before their shock against PSG in the knockout stages of the Champions League, the people of Madrid, dominated throughout the match, gave in in the 89th minute on a strike from the left of Alex Berenguer when Real was just starting to float.
Isco had an equalizer in added time, well found by Eduardo Camavinga, but his shot too crossed did not catch the target… and it was Bilbao who got their revenge from the final of the Spanish Super Cup.
In the absence of Karim Benzema, still in trouble with his left thigh and preserved for the poster against PSG in 12 days, the people of Madrid had the worst difficulty in the world to be dangerous and remained entrenched in their camp. a large part of the meeting, to wipe the waves of Basque attacks.
Struggling Brazilians
While the Merengues bus was attacked by Basque supporters before kick-off (see box), the people of Madrid never really got into the game.
And the Brazilians Rodrygo and Vinicius, who had just returned from a match against Ecuador less than 48 hours earlier in South America, failed to make up for Benzema’s absence. Vinicius was replaced in the 63rd minute by Isco, giving way with his mouth wide open, exhausted.
On the Bilbao side, too, the game left its mark: Nico Williams, the young Basque prodigy, left the lawn in the 43rd minute in tears, comforted by his big brother Iñaki, after injuring himself in the back of the right thigh after a counter-attack run.
But it is indeed the Basques, who defeated Barça in the previous round, who can continue to believe in their dream: they will try to grab their first King’s Cup title since 1984. Real Madrid, on the other hand, have not won the competition since 2014.
In the other quarter-final of the evening, Betis Sevilla crushed Real Sociedad 4-0 thanks to a double from Juanmi (12th, 57th), a penalty from the former Basque Willian José (83rd) and a final goal from ‘Aitor Ruibal (87th). The only goal scored by Real Sociedad (Adnan Januzaj, 39th) was canceled after video viewing.
The draw for the semi-finals will take place this Friday at 1 p.m.
The Real Madrid coach was targeted by Athletic Bilbao fans ahead of the Copa del Rey quarter-final between the two sides. A side window was shattered by projectiles. According to images relayed by the Spanish media, the bus which transported the players and the staff to the San Mamés stadium was the target of projectiles, mainly plastic glasses.
“Athletic regrets and condemns the incidents that occurred when the Real Madrid bus arrived, to which we apologized,” the Basque club reacted on Twitter in the evening.
On January 19, the Atlético Madrid bus had also been the target of projectiles in the Basque Country, during the visit of the Colchoneros to Anoeta in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey against Real Sociedad (success of the Basques 2-0 ).
(AFP)