The draw for the semifinals of the Copa del Rey produced a new classic, which will see Barcelona and Real Madrid face off three times in just over a month. The first leg will be at the Santiago Bernabeu on March 1 or 2 and the return at the Camp Nou on April 4 or 5. In the middle of the two games, on March 18 or 19, Madrid will visit the Camp Nou again, this time in return for the visit of the League. The other semifinal will be on the same dates between Osasuna and Athletic Club, with the first leg at Sadar.
The cupbearer confrontation will be the third classic of this season. In the first, on October 16, Madrid won at the Bernabeu (3-1), but in the last one, the final of the Spanish Super Cup played in Riyadh (Arabia) on January 15, had blaugrana color and was won by Xavi Hernández's men (3-1).
Of the four semifinalists in the KO competition, Barcelona (31), Athletic Club (23) and Real Madrid (19) are the three with the most titles in the history of this tournament. Osasuna have never won the title, but they did reach a final. It was in the 2004-05 season and they fell 2-1 against Betis after extra time in a game played at the Calderón.
The history of the classic in the Copa del Rey augurs an even semifinal between the two greats of Spanish football. In this tournament both have met so far in 14 qualifiers, of which the blaugrana have taken eight to the whites six. The balance in the finals is favorable, on the other hand, to Madrid, who won four to three from Barcelona.
The last time they met in the Cup was in 2019, a semifinal that took Barcelona to the final. In the first leg, at the Camp Nou there was a draw (1-1), but the blaugrana won at the Bernabeu (0-3), which meant days later the dismissal of Santiago Solari from the white bench and his return in his second spell by Zinedine Zidane.
The last two finals between the two were for Madrid, both at Mestalla. A 1-0 with a goal from Cristiano in extra time in 2011 with Mourinho coaching Madrid and a 2-1, in 2014, already with Ancelotti, in the game of Bale's career, beating Marc Bartra on the outside of the field .
In the chapter on classic cup bearers in the memories of the fans there is a bit of everything, from the so-called "final of the bottles" at the Bernabeu won by Barcelona (1-0) in 1968 with an arbitration by Rigo protested by the whites or in 1970 the penalty awarded at the Camp Nou by Guruceta to Madrid from Rifé to Velázquez very clearly far from the area that became one of the biggest scandals in the history of Spanish football.
The first reactions to the draw were those of Jordi Cruyff, Barcelona's technical secretary: “It's a great game worldwide. In the end, to win the Cup you have to win everything, but a special tie is coming up. The players have already forgotten what happened in the Super Cup. It is a historical rival. We start from scratch. It will be a beautiful battle”.
Of the four participants, Athletic Club is the only one that has reached the semifinals in the last four editions of the Cup. The lions reached the final in 2020 and 2021, but lost both: 1-0 against Real Sociedad and 4-0 against Barça, respectively. History accompanies Athletic, but Osasuna is experiencing a great moment. The rojillos are currently two places above in the League and are at the gates of Europe.
For Barça and Madrid, the tie comes in the middle of a grueling series of games. On the weekend before receiving Barcelona, the whites receive a visit from Atlético and in the same week they will travel to Seville to play against Betis, two very complicated games with the League at stake.
Before the first leg of the classic cupbearer, Barcelona travels to Almería and three or four days later they will receive Valencia at the Camp Nou. And in the week of the classic league in Barcelona, Madrid receives Liverpool in what will be the second leg of the Champions League round of 16. There is no relaxation possible.
