Barcelona and Athletic, a Classic for the pass to the Cup Semifinals

Barcelona and Athletic, the most winning clubs in the Copa del Rey, face each other in a Clásico for a place in the Semifinals.

BARCELONA — Barcelona y Athletic de Bilbaothe two clubs more winners in the history from Copa del Rey (31 titles for Barça and 23 for Athletic) face each other in a Classic of the tournament, two years after the Basque team remove against the Blaugrana in this same round of the round of 16 (3-2) with a penalty goal converted by Iker Muniain in extra time.

Since their first confrontation, in the 1920 final that the Barcelona 2-0 in Gijón, and until January 2022, culers and leones have faced each other in up to 44 games of Copa del Reyonly surpassed by the 56 duels played between the Athletic and the Real Madrid.

They could have debuted their record in the 1911 semifinals, but Barça withdrew from the competition after beating Gimnástica de Madrid in the quarterfinals for forcing the federation to repeat the match considering an alleged improper alignment.

This Wednesday's clash at San Mamés comes at a key moment for both teams. Xavi's, rescued after his victory in Sevilla on Sunday; Valverde's, who despite falling at Mestalla and seeing his aspirations to enter the Champions League reduced, has consecutively won his last five games played at San Mamés, where he only lost on the opening day of the League (0-2) against Real Madrid.

HISTORICAL CANDIDATES
Being the last single-match tie (the semi-finals will be played round-trip in February), San Mamés will define one of the candidates to win the title that Real Madrid won last season and it will be the fourth in four years between the two. equipment. At the Basque stadium, Athletic qualified in both the 2020 quarterfinals (1-0) and the 2022 round of 16 and Barça won the 2021 final. thrashing in Seville (4-0) in which it was the only trophy won by Ronald Koeman in charge of Barça… And the last celebration of Lionel Messifour months before his shocking exit of the club.

There have been nine finals between Barça and Athletic, with seven victories for Barça and two for Red and White. Since 2009 they have done it four times, with the Catalan team always winning a trophy that the lions have not celebrated since 1984, when they beat Barça (1-0) in what was Maradona's last official match before his departure to the Napoli. Beyond that, they have faced each other in 18 qualifying rounds, of which Barça emerged victorious in 11 to 7 against Athletic… which won the last two, both in a single match and played, as will happen this time, in San Mamés .