The hosts head through to the semi-finals while Los Blancos’ hopes of a clean domestic sweep end.
Full-time at San Mames Stadium, it finishes Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Real Madrid.
What can Carlo Ancelotti say about this, then? First, the man has won the Copa del Rey before.
He has won virtually every significant honour across Europe’s top five leagues.
Bar La Liga and a handful of cup competitions, but he has presided over this bright new dawn at Bernabeu.
After last term’s barren run has taken a blow to its ambition today. Ancelotti needs his side to regroup and refocus.
There’s going to be a party in Bilbao tonight. Twice, this club has been to the Copa del Rey Final in recent years. Twice, they’ve come up short.
Today, they did not, and they’ll head to the semi-finals once again at the expense of the team who edged them in the Supercopa last month, no less.
Revenge is a dish best served hot in this town.
Starting Lineup:
ATHLETIC BILBAO: Julen Agirrezabala;
Oscar De Marcos, Yeray Alvarez, Inigo Martínez, Yuri;
Nico Williams, Dani Garcia, Mikel Vesga, Iker Muniain;
Raul Garcia, Inaki Williams.
REAL MADRID (4-3-3): Thibaut Courtois;
Lucas Vazquez, Eder Militao, David Alaba, Nacho;
Luka Modric, Casemiro, Toni Kroos;
Rodrygo, Marco Asensio, Vinicius Junior.
Goals:
1-0. Alex Berenguer was the hero of San Mames Stadium. A poor pass out the back from Madrid is intercepted by Mikel Vesga, who feeds the substitute downfield, and he cuts inside the defender to curl a beauty in at the far post.
What lies ahead for Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid?
La Liga action awaits both teams next time out then. Athletic Bilbao welcome Espanyol to San Mames Stadium.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid returns home to host Granada.
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