Real Madrid and Barcelona to meet in Copa del Rey semifinals

(Right) Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring their third goal with Alvaro Odriozola. (Left) Barcelona’s French forward Ousmane Dembele looks on during the Copa del Rey (King’s Cup), quarter-final football match between FC Barcelona and Real Sociedad, at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on January 25, 2023.

(Right) Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring their third goal with Alvaro Odriozola. (Left) Barcelona’s French forward Ousmane Dembele looks on during the Copa del Rey (King’s Cup), quarter-final football match between FC Barcelona and Real Sociedad, at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on January 25, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Collage with Reuters & AFP

Real Madrid will get a chance for revenge against Barcelona when the Spanish teams meet in the Copa del Rey semifinals.

The rivals were paired together in Monday’s draw, which also set up a semifinal match between Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna.

Madrid lost the Spanish Super Cup final to Barcelona 3-1 in Saudi Arabia on January 15, the same score it beat the Catalan club in their first “clásico” of the season in the Spanish league.

Barcelona also got the best of Madrid the last time they met in the Copa del Rey, advancing in the 2019 semifinals with a 3-0 win in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Madrid will host the first leg this time, with the second at the Camp Nou.

The first leg of the semifinals this season was set to be played next week, but it will have to be scheduled for about a month from now because Madrid will be participating in the Club World Cup in Morocco.

Barcelona is the club with most Copa del Rey titles with 31, eight more than Athletic. Madrid has 19 but none since 2014, while Osasuna’s best result was a runner-up finish in 2005, when it lost in the final to Real Betis.

Every round until now had been played in single games. Madrid advanced to the last four past city rival Atletico Madrid, while Barcelona eliminated Real Sociedad.

The final will be played on May 6 in Seville. 

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