A late goal from Alex Berenguer dumped Real Madrid out of the 2021/22 Copa del Rey. Los Blancos were beaten 1-0 by Athletic Club, who, in the previous round, had eliminated holders Barcelona from the competition.
Athletic Club achieved the unique feat of knocking Barcelona (3-2) and Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey in subsequent rounds when they beat the latter 1-0. For the third successive year, the Basque club made it through to the last four of the cup competition; Athletic reached the final in both the 2019/20 and the 2020/21 season but were beaten by rivals Real Sociedad and Barca, respectively.
The winner arrived in the 89th minute, but both sides had opportunities to take the lead prior to that. A superb save from Thibaut Courtois kept out Dani Garcia’s thunderbolt in the ninth minute. In the 27th minute, Rodrygo Goes cushioned a diagonal pass into his path but failed to get the necessary bend on his subsequent shot to curl it past the Belgian.
Casemiro burst in behind the Athletic defence in the 81st minute, latching on to a Marco Asensio backheel pass before shooting straight at the goalkeeper. The defensive midfielder, to make matters worse, gave the ball away to Mikel Vesga a minute from normal time in a dangerous position, close to his box.
The midfielder played a pass into the feet of Alex Berenguer, who cut inside onto his left foot and curled the ball into the far corner for the only goal of the game.
Elsewhere, Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis put four goals past Real Sociedad to book their place in the last four. Juanmi scored twice – first in the 16th minute after some good work from William Carvalho and then in the 57th from an Alex Moreno cut-back – to put Betis in a comfortable position before the returning Willian Jose put his side three-up from the spot.
Aitor Ruibal added another three minutes from time, running in behind the Sociedad defence before lifting the ball over the goalkeeper.
Athletic Club and Real Betis join Valencia and Rayo Vallecano in the last four of the Copa del Rey, the draw for which will be made on February 4.
