Copa del Rey 2023--octavos (round of 16)

[AlanK]

After wading through seeming attempts to keep the viewer from accessing information, I managed to put together the pairings for octavos, which will be played as one-offs the week of Jan. 18 (no schedule yet available; the drawing was today)

Update: schedule now complete (subject to change without notice )

Ceuta-Barça 19 Jan. 2000 Only representative of third-level gets a great draw: Barça. The lower-level teams can sometimes pay for their full year's expenses when they make it this far and draw one of the top teams.

Levante-Atlético de Madrid 18 Jan. 2100 Second level vs first level.

Sporting Gijón-Valencia 18 Jan. 1900 Second level vs first level.

Alavés-Sevilla 17 Jan. 2100 Second level vs first level.

And the last four matchups are first level vs first level

Betis-Osasuna 18 Jan. 2100

Villarreal-Real Madrid 19 Jan. 2100

Real Sociedad-Mallorca 17 Jan. 1900

Athletic Bilbao-Espanyol 18 Jan. 2000

Drawing was "conditioned": lower-division representatives could only draw first-level opponents; lower-division representatives were guaranteed home-field advantage in one-off eliminations.

[AlanK]

Today's games in octavos--Tues. 17 Jan.

1900 Real Sociedad 1, Mallorca 0 Final score. Navarro gives la Real the lead at 6', and it's still 1-0 at the half. La Real is in third place in LaLiga; Mallorca is in tenth place in LaLiga. La Real is the first quarterfinalist.

2100 Alavés 0, Sevilla 1 Final score. Alavés is in fifth place in LaLiga2; Sevilla is 19th in LaLiga. Scoreless first half in Mendizorroza. At 48', Rakitic scores with a header what will prove to be the only goal of the game. Salva Sevilla came close for Alavés at the end of added time, but no joy. Sevilla is the second quarterfinalist.

[AlanK]

Today's games in octavos--Wed. 18 Jan.

1900 Sporting 0, Valencia 4 Sporting is 15th in LaLiga2. Valencia is 12th in LaLiga. Neither is anywhere close to where they'd like to be in their respective leagues. Pretty clear who the third quarterfinalist will be, as goals by Cavani at 11', Kluivert at 21', and Cavani again at 39' seem to have settled the outcome rather emphatically. At 64', Lino makes it 0-4; that's the final.

2000 Athletic 1, Espanyol 0 Athletic is in eighth place in LaLiga. Espanyol is 14th in LaLiga, and undoubtedly very happy to have risen above the drop, even one point thereabove. Oscar De Marcos scores what proves to be the winner at 27'.

2100 Levante 0, Atlético 2 Levante is in third place in LaLiga2, just three points off the league lead. Atleti is fourth in LaLiga, but their lead over fifth and sixth places is only on GD. Levante plays tough, but Morata at 54' and Marcos Llorente at 91' make the final 0-2 for Atleti.

2100 Betis 2, Osasuna 2 A priori, this looks like the best game today. Betis is sixth in LaLiga, back of the last CL spot only on GD. Osasuna is three places but only one point back of the last CL spot and one point back of Betis. Carvalho scores what looks to be the winner at 62' for Betis, but at 91', David García puts in a header from close up to send the game to overtime. At 103, Sabaly gives Betis the lead with a tap-in--2-1. But at 106, Rubén García ties for Osasuna--2-2, and off to a shootout, which Osasuna wins 4-2.

So thus far we have six semifinalists Real Sociedad, Atlético, Osasuna, Athletic, Valencia, and Sevilla.

[AlanK]

Today's games in octavos--Thurs. 19 Jan.

2000 Ceuta 0, Barça 5 Full time. Ceuta is a third-level team, the only team from third level to make it to the octavos. Barça leads LaLiga . . . but Xavi has promised wholesale changes with respect to the lineup that played in the Spanish SuperCup. At 41', Raphinha scores for Barça, and it's 0-1 at the half. Ceuta looked reasonably competitive in the first half, but the second half was much different goals by Lewandowski at 50', Ansu Fati at 70', Kessié at 77', and Lewandowski again at 90' put Barça in the quarterfinals.

2100 Villarreal 2, Real Madrid 3 On paper, this is the top matchup of the octavos de final. Villarreal is in fifth place in LaLiga; el Real is in second place. Capoue at 4' and Chukwueze at 42' give the Yellow Submarine the lead at the half--0-2. Can they hold on No, they couldn't Second-half goals by Vinicius at 57', Militao at 70', and Ceballos at 86' turn it around for Real and make them the eighth and final team to qualify for the quarterfinals.

And after today's games, the list for the drawing for quarterfinals will be complete. If I understand correctly, the drawing will be tomorrow, Fri. 20 Jan. at 1300 CET. This will be the first "open" draw in the Copa del Rey--no seeding or rules about current ranking will be applied. The quarterfinals are still one-offs; the dates are 24-26 Jan. Semifinals will be home-and-home, first legs 7-9 Feb., second legs 1-3 March. The Final will be on 6 May in La Cartuja (Sevilla). All this, of course, is subject to change without notice

[AlanK]

The draw gives us the quarterfinalist matchups (no kickoff times yet), to wit Update--and now with kickoff times added

Thurs. 26 Jan. Real Madrid-Atlético de Madrid @2100

Wed. 25 Jan. Osasuna-Sevilla @2200

Thurs. 26 Jan. Valencia-Athletic Bilbao @2000

Wed. 25 Jan. Barça-Real Sociedad @2100

One-offs to be played 24 through 26 January in the stadium of the team named first.

Update: calendar dictates that no games will be played on Tues. 24 Jan.

Oh, heck, the games overlap one another

[AlanK]

We've reached the quarterfinals; today and tomorrow, 25 and 26 Jan., will takes us to the semifinals, to be played a wee bit down the road. Wednesday and Thursday games

Wed. 25 Jan. 2100 Barça 1, Real Sociedad 0 Should fill the Camp Nou Goal by Dembélé at 52' wins it; Barça looked a bit shaky as the game neared the end.

Wed. 25 Jan. 2200 Yes, this game overlaps Barça-Real Soc.: Osasuna 2, Sevilla 1 AET. Goals: Chimy Avila 71'--1-0. En-Nesyri 95'--1-1. Abde 99'--2-1. Osasuna is having their best season overall since at least 2006-2007 . . . and Sevilla is having their worst season in one heck of a long time.

Thurs. 26 Jan. 2000 Valencia 1, Athletic 3 Can Valencia, in the middle of a nightmare season, beat "El Coperísimo" Athletic Even with home advantage No, they couldn't. De Marcos, own goal 43'--1-1. Muniain 35'--0-1, Nico Williams 45'--1-2, Vesga pk 74--1-3.'

Thurs. 26 Jan. 2100 Real Madrid 3, Atlético de Madrid 1 AET. Morata 19'--0-1; Rodrygo 79'--1-1, Benzema 104'--2-1, Vinicius 121'--3-1. El Real has to be the favorite, but don't bet lots against El Cholo Simeone.

Drawing for semifinals Monday 30 Jan. @1300 CET. Barça and Osasuna have qualified. The other two semifinalists will bye known after today's games (Thurs. 26 Jan.) And the winners on Thursday, as expected, were Athletic and Real Madrid.

[AlanK]

Draw for semifinals is going on now Will follow up as soon as possible. Teams Barça, Real Madrid, Osasuna, Athletic Bilbao (listed in order of current ranking in LaLiga.)

Matchups

Real Madrid-Barça First leg: 2 March 2100. Second leg: 5 April 2200.

Osasuna-Athletic First leg: 1 March 2100. Second leg: 4 April 2200.