La Liga
REAL MADRID JOIN BARCELONA IN COPA DEL REY EXIT
Barcelona and Real Madrid both crashed out of the Spanish King’s Cup on Thursday night, as Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad pulled off a shock Basque double to reach the semi-finals.
Barca were beaten 1-0 at Bilbao’s San Mames, where Inaki Williams scored a dramatic 93rd-minute winner, after Sociedad had upstaged hosts Real 4-3 in a thriller at the Santiago Bernabeu.
For the
first time since 2010, the final will feature neither Barcelona nor Real
Madrid.
An unfamiliar final four will see Bilbao take on Granada and Sociedad face second-tier Mirandes.
For Barca, it was a double whammy on and off the pitch in a turbulent week after captain Lionel Messi was embroiled in a public spat with the club’s sporting director Eric Abidal while Ousmane Dembele was ruled out with another hamstring tear.
To make matters worse, Gerard Pique hobbled off in the second half and is doubtful to face Real Betis in La Liga tomorrow.
Barcelona are in political turmoil after Messi slammed Abidal, who suggested that coach Ernesto Valverde was sacked last month owing to the players’ lack of effort.
And the fear is the Argentinian star could even leave in the summer by activating a clause in his contract that allows him to walk away for free.
Defeat by Bilbao adds to the sense of a club in a state of crisis.
Quique Setien has now lost two of his opening six games in charge, with a Champions League tie against Napoli on Feb 25 fast approaching.
Barca defender Pique said the team needed to show unity and refrain from infighting, adding that the performance, if not the result, proved that they had moved on from the saga.
“Now is not the time to air our dirty laundry,” he said. “All I can say is we have 100 per cent confidence in ourselves and are pleased with how we played and how we have reacted in the face of all this noise.”
Setien said he was hurt by the elimination but was pleased with the display.
“Today everything went well, apart from the result,” he said.
“We took a step forward in our play and I’m pleased with many things we did. I’m not only looking at the result.”
For a rotated Real side, who sit top of La Liga, the loss against Sociedad was perhaps less damaging, even if they conceded as many goals in 69 minutes as they had in their last 11 matches.
Martin Odegaard, on loan at Sociedad but allowed to face his parent club, scored the opener before Alexander Isak hit two to give Sociedad a remarkable 3-0 lead.
Marcelo and Rodrygo scored late in the second half and while Mikel Merino added a fourth for the visitors, a Nacho Fernandez header set up a wild final three minutes.
“It hurts, we have to be honest, nobody likes a defeat,” said Real coach Zinedine Zidane.
-AFP
Raphinha knew there was no reason to panic as Barcelona struggled to break down Espanyol on Thursday and said it was only a matter of time before the “golden feet” of Lamine Yamal steered them to a title-winning victory with a glorious goal.
Yamal, 17, took the ball on the right touchline and made a superb lateral run across the edge of the box before unleashing a curling strike between two defenders and into the top corner to break the deadlock early in the second half.
The stunning strike set Barca on course for a 2-0 win that secured the LaLiga title, with Real Madrid seven points back with only two games left to play.
“We didn’t have many clear chances but we have a kid in there who sometimes pulls something out of the golden feet he has and he gave us peace of mind to stay in the game more calmly,” Raphinha said.
“In January some people were saying we would fight to be third. We have confidence in ourselves. That’s the key. We trust in the work and in what we know we can do.”
Raphinha has scored 18 league goals this season, including a brace in Saturday’s crucial 4-3 win over Real Madrid, and was quick to credit the trust shown in him by coach Hansi Flick.
The Brazilian tripled his goal tally from last season and also has the third-highest number of assists in the competition with nine, three less than leader Yamal.
“The most important thing was the confidence of the coach. Knowing at the start of the season that he was counting on me, a person who controls the team … it changes you in the end,” he said.
-Reuters
Former Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso is set to become the next Real Madrid manager on a three-year deal when he leaves Bayer Leverkusen after this season, Spanish media reported on Monday.
Alonso, 43, is expected to replace current Real boss Carlo Ancelotti, who is being lined up for the vacant Brazil job ahead of the 2026 World Cup, soccer sources told Reuters.
Despite the Italian having a year remaining on his contract, Real’s underwhelming season and his desire to coach Brazil have led to a mutual agreement to part ways, the sources added.
Alonso, who said earlier this month that he was leaving Leverkusen after guiding them to the double last term, will join Real before the inaugural Club World Cup in the United States from June 14 to July 14, multiple media reports said.
Alonso, who also played for Liverpool and Bayern Munich, last season steered Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title, ending the Bavarians’ 11-year domination, and they also won the German Cup and German Super Cup.
Reports of Ancelotti’s likely departure come as no surprise after Real’s 4-3 defeat at Barcelona in a thrilling ‘El Clasico’ on Sunday left his side on the brink of a trophyless season.
The 65-year-old Italian, who returned for a second stint at Real in June 2021, led the Spanish giants to two Champions League and LaLiga doubles, the latest of which came last season.
He is the most successful manager in the club’s history with a total of 15 trophies and the first coach to claim titles in Europe’s top five leagues.
However, this season Real were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Arsenal and allowed Barca to fight back and win 3-2 in the Copa del Rey final.
Second-placed Real are seven points adrift of Barcelona, who could secure the league title on Wednesday without kicking a ball if Real fail to win at home to Mallorca.
Regardless of Real’s result, a Barca victory in the city derby away to Espanyol on Thursday would clinch the title.
An official announcement regarding a managerial change is expected before Real’s last game of the season at home to Real Sociedad on May 25.
-Reuters
Schmuelgen/File Photo
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It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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