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NEWS | Copa del Rey
30 January 2023

Osasuna - Athletic and Real Madrid - FC Barcelona, Copa Semi Finals

The draw held this afternoon at the Ciudad del Fútbol was attended by the president of the RFEF, Luis Rubiales, and coach Luis de la Fuente.

CA Osasuna and Athletic Club, on one side; and Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, on the other, will face each other for the two places in the final of the Copa del Rey 22/23, to be played in Seville on May 6. This was the result of the draw held this Monday in the Luis Aragonés assembly hall at the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas.

The draw has decided that Osasuna and Real Madrid will play the first leg at home, in the first and only two-legged tie of the competition. The first legs will take place between February 28 and March 2, and the second legs between April 4 and 6. The winners of both semi finals will meet at the Estadio de La Cartuja, in Seville, on May 6.

The draw, which was attended by the president of the RFEF, Luis Rubiales,  and also by the national coach, Luis de la Fuente. De la Fuente, who was Copa champion in 1984, emphasized that, as a spectator, he has enjoyed "the great spectacle"; and that, as coach, he has been "happy" to see the enormous level shown by the Spanish players in this Copa competition, with a "tremendously attractive" format.

 

De la Fuente took the stage with a clear "Good luck to all four of you", just before approaching  and drawing the teams that will play as home teams in the first leg of these exciting semi finals.

Live interventions

In addition, and as in the previous draw, which decided the quarter-final pairings, different players have analyzed, live, the classification of their team and the expectations for this next round. In this case, they were Kike García, from Club Atlético Osasuna; Jordi Cruyff, sporting director of FC Barcelona; Mikel González, director of football at Athletic Club; and Dani Carvajal, Real Madrid player.

Kike García has highlighted, from the CA Osasuna facilities, the tremendous enthusiasm of his club for this competition; and has also recalled live the tribute that the red and white team recently paid to Luismi, player of CD Fuentes - Osasuna's first rival in the Copa - who died in an unfortunate traffic accident.

 

Jordi Cruyff, for his part, pointed out that his club has no preference for playing the first leg of the tie at home or away, and stressed that the single-leg format, personally, has generated "more excitement" for him. "I've loved the previous knockout rounds, with all the surprises that make soccer for everyone and not just for the big teams".

 

Mikel González, from Athletic Club, highlighted the value of having reached the semifinals in the last four editions, consecutively; but stressed that they are not satisfied with that. As to whether he would prefer to play the  match at home or away, he pointed out: "We will count on the San Mamés factor in both the first leg and the return leg".  

 

The last of the protagonists to speak, Dani Carvajal, underlined the "competitive gene" seen in Real Madrid in a Copa in which they needed to come from behind in both the tie against Cacereño and the quarter finals against Atlético de Madrid. Carvajal also fondly remembered the 2014 Copa del Rey, which was his first title as a madridista.  

 

Relive the complete draw