Barcelona and Real Madrid exits show how Copa del Rey is harder for biggest clubs now and why treble talk is unwise

Neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona made it through to the Copa del Rey semi-finals
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Ben Hayward9 February 2020

First if was Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu and then it was Barcelona at San Mames. On Thursday night, Spain's two biggest clubs crashed out of the Copa del Rey.

Los Blancos bowed out just before 21:00 following a 4-3 defeat at home to Real Sociedad, the Blaugrana beaten 1-0 by Basque opponents of their own just two hours later as Iñaki Williams gave Athletic Club a 1-0 victory in injury time up in Bilbao.

Not since 1955 had Madrid and Barca been knocked out of the Copa on the same night; not since 2003 had neither made it to the last four of the cup competition; not since 2010 has the final taken place without either.

But this time it will. Madrid found themselves 4-1 down to an impressive Real Sociedad as Zinedine Zidane paid the price for making too many changes and the visitors survived a stirring fightback (in which Vinicius Junior saw a strike marginally ruled out for offside) to hold on for a 4-3 win and a place in the last four.

One Real fan told Deportes Cuatro after the game that he hoped Los Blancos would prevail in the second leg. But he was confused – there is no second leg any more, not until the semi-finals. Madrid were out and a little later, so too were Barca.

The Blaugrana produced probably the best performance yet in Quique Setien's short spell in charge, but were unfortunate to see a Frenkie de Jong penalty appeal waved away and were were left to rue missed chances as Williams hit a late winner in front of a record crowd at San Mames.

"It hurts," Zidane admitted. "Because nobody likes losing." Madrid's loss ended a run of 22 games without defeat dating back to October and means the Frenchman's wait for a Copa del Rey will go on for one more year at least, the 47-year-old having failed to win one as a Real player or coach.

And Setien said: "Everything went well, apart from the result and the elimination." Which sounded like a ridiculous thing to say after a knockout defeat, even if it was also understandable after an improved display from his side.

On Tuesday night, a last-minute penalty from Roberto Soldado had given Granada victory over Valencia as the striker knocked out his hometown club and former employers, who were also the current holders.

And on Wednesday, Segunda side Mirandes added Villarreal to their list of victims from LaLiga, after Celta Vigo and Sevilla were dispatched in previous rounds. Mirandes, from the province of Burgos, beat the Yellow Submarine 4-2 to seal their place in the semi-finals.

Friday's draw for the last four paired Athletic Club with Granada and Real Sociedad with Mirandes, with the first-leg matches to take place next week in the Basque Country and the return games to come early next month.

The two finalists will be guaranteed a spot in next season's Spanish Supecopa in Saudi Arabia. Madrid and Barca should still qualify via LaLiga, but will need to finish first and second in order to seal a return to Jeddah.

Spain's biggest two met in the Copa del Rey semi-finals last season and the competition's previous format of two-legged ties all the way through meant there was a safety net. The Catalans lost to both Levante and Sevilla last season, for example, only to turn the ties around with comfortable wins back at Camp Nou.

In Pictures | Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad | 06/02/20

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The Copa's new format, with lower-league teams always at home and ties one-off games until the semi-final stage, has brought about more upsets than before and adds excitement to a previously predictable and banal affair.

"We felt we had to do something for the smaller clubs," Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales said on Friday. "We have created a thrilling format which has excited us right up to the last kick."

And the competition has seen 84 teams involved, all the way down to regional level. For Barca and Madrid – and everyone else in LaLiga for that matter –, the cup is now more difficult than before, with the route to the latter stages plagued with tricky ties.

Progress to the final rounds will now have to be earned in one-off ties and as this week showed, one off night will be all it takes for one of the big teams to fall.

With both Barca and Madrid now out, there will be no more talk of possible trebles this season either. Not that there should have been, anyway.

After last weekend's win over Atletico in LaLiga, Zidane was asked by a journalist if he thought Madrid would win the treble. He played it down, of course, but the question is never helpful and much less so in February.

Barca have won two trebles in recent years (2009 and 2015), but previous coach Ernesto Valverde complained on more than one occasion that he was expected to win "trebles and sextets" at the Catalan club.

In Pictures | Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona | 06/02/2020

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Last season, he had been just three games from a treble, but ended up with just LaLiga. And now he has been replaced by Setien, who admitted on arrival that he wanted to win it all, but now cannot.

Talk of trebles only serves to create unhealthy and unrealistic expectations which will rarely be achieved and from now on, the added difficulty of claiming the Copa makes the possibility of winning all three even tougher than before.

But, as the Madrid fan who believed Los Blancos still had a second leg after the loss to Real Sociedad said after learning of his side's elimination, at least there is still LaLiga and the Champions League to play for.

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