FC Barcelona to face Athletic Club de Bilbao in Copa del Rey quarter finals

Barça have drawn Athletic Club de Bilbao in the Copa del Rey quarter finals after having knocked out Leganés in the last 16  and Ibiza in the previous round. The new format of the competition means that the tie is one leg only, and it will be played at Athletic's ground San Mamés in Bilbao, on Thursday, February 6, kick-off 9.00pm CET. In the the current Copa del Rey campaign, Gaizka Garitano's team have knocked out Elche on penalties in the last 16 and Sestao in the previous round. 

The sides have already met once this season, on the opening day of the La Liga season in San Mamés when Aritz Aduriz's late goal gave Athletic a 1-0 win. As for the precedents in the cup, Athletic Club and Barça will play each other for the 30th time. The last was in the 2016/17 season, when the Catalans won 4-3 on aggregate in the Round of 16.

The rest of the draw is as follows: Real Madrid v Real Sociedad, Granada v Valencia and Mirandés v Villarrreal.

Quique Setién: 'It will be a very close tie'

Recovery training

Quique Setién's squad returned to training on Friday morning with one eye on the league match against Levante. Those who played in the win against Leganés did some post-match recovery, with the rest of the squad working out on Pitch 2 at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper. Barça B's Iñaki Peña, Sergi Puig, R. Araujo, Monchu, Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati all played a part, and Ousmane Dembélé continued his own recovery by taking part in the session.

The next session is this Saturday at 11.00am CET, prior to Quique Setién's press conference.