Spain’s ridiculous schedule of league and cup matches virtually every day for a month continues as the Copa del Rey quarterfinals get underway this week with the first leg matches.
Copa del Rey, Quarterfinals: The grueling march continues in the King’s Cup
The quarterfinal first leg matches feature a meeting between the second and fourth placed teams in La Liga.
Manuel Queimadelos Alonso
Racing Santander of the Segunda División B -- the third tier of Spanish football -- are the lone non-top flight team remaining and will face off with Real Sociedad.
Barcelona gets a familiar foe in Levante as the teams will play for the second time in four days. Levante held the Blaugrana to a 1-1 draw on Sunday, so it will be interesting to see if they can repeat that performance again. Real Madrid meanwhile face Espanyol, winners of two straight matches who currently sit eight in the the league table.
The final matchup is easily the best of the group as Atlético Madrid faces Atheltic Bilbao. Atléti are coming off a disappointing draw against Sevilla that kept them from jumping ahead of Barcelona at the top of the table. Athletic current sit fourth in the league after a 6-1 thrashing of Almeria. The last time the two teams met in early November, Atléti was victorious 2-0.
Here’s the full schedule for this week’s Copa del Rey matches.
Tuesday, January 21
Espanyol vs. Real Madrid | 9:00 p.m. ET, 3:00 p.m. CEST
Wednesday, January 22
Real Sociedad vs. Racing Santander | 8:00 p.m. ET, 2:00 p.m. CEST
Levante vs. Barcelona | 10:00 p.m. ET, 4:00 p.m. CEST
Thursday, January 23
Atlético Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao | 9:00 p.m. ET, 3:00 p.m. CEST
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