Copa del Rey semi-final draw: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Real Sociedad in the mix | OneFootball

The Copa del Rey semi-final draw took place on Friday afternoon at the headquarters of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in Las Rozas, with four of Spain’s traditional giants in the mix to win the competition. Barcelona have become heavy favourites after the exit of Rael Madrid, but all four sides have won the tournament in the last 13 years.

The Catalan side eliminated giant-killers Albacete 2-1 on Tuesday night, but required a late goal-line clearance from Gerard Martin to do so. The Basque giants both required late goals from Orri Oskarsson and Inaki Williams to make it past Alaves and Valencia respectively. The only one-sided clash was Atletico Madrid’s 5-0 demolition of Real Betis.

Copa del Rey semi-final draw

Image via Getty Images / Angel Martinez

The draw has thrown up ties between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, while Athletic Club will face Real Sociedad in a Basque derby. The former tie will be repeat of the Copa del Rey semi-final from last year, which Barcelona won 5-4 on aggregate, with a 1-0 win in Madrid. The Basque derby occurred just last weekend, ending in a 1-1 draw at San Mames, with the tie in Anoeta finishing 3-2 to the Txuri-Urdin.

Atletico looked the best of the four sides in the quarter-finals, boosted by the addition of Ademola Lookman, but could be without Pablo Barrios for the first leg. Barcelona are on a strong run of form, without being at their best, and are missing Pedri themselves. In the Basque Country, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s unbeaten start will give La Real confidence against an ailing Athletic, who have come up with important goals late on in their last two games.

Dates and scheduling for the semi-finals

The coming hours and days will see the RFEF set the schedule for the semi-finals, which will be conducted over two legs. The first leg will take place next week on the 10th/11th of February, with the second leg not occurring for nearly another month, until the 4th/5th of March. The first legs will be hosted by Atletico at the Metropolitano, and Athletic at San Mames.