FC Barcelona to face Athletic Club in the Copa del Rey

FC Barcelona now know their opponents in the quarter finals of this season's Copa del Rey after knocking out Barbastro and Unionistas de Salamanca in the previous round. Standing between Xavi Hernández's team and a place in the semi-finals will be Athletic Club de Bilbao in a one legged tie that will be played on Wednesday 24 January at the San Mamés stadium, kick off 9.30pm CET.  

Cup kings come face to face 

The tie will be one with a whole of history as the two sides who have won the competition 54 times between them, Barça with 31 wins and Athletic 23, come face to face in San Mamés, itself a historic venue in Spanish Football. 

The teams have met on many occasions in the competition, in the final in the 2020/21 season with the blaugranes taking their most recent Copa del Rey with a 4-0 victory. Athetic Club turned the tables the following season with a 3-2 win in the last 16 of the competition at San Mamés, the venue for this season's quarter final. 

A busy week 

The trip to Bilbao in the Copa del Rey comes after a visit to Betis this Sunday in La Liga and ahead of Barça's first home game of 2024 which will be against Villarreal on Saturday 27 January. Athletic boss and former Barça coach Ernesto Valverde has a trip Valencia at the weekend before the showdown with Xavi Hernández's team in midweek. 

The rest of the draw:

Celta Vigo v Real Sociedad 

Real Mallorca v Girona

Atletico Madrid v Sevilla