Barça's Copa quarter-final pits them against Real Madrid slayers Albacete
Barcelona face a tricky trip to Segunda Division's Albacete, who stunned Real Madrid in the previous round. The Carlos Belmonte awaits for a spicy cup tie.
The Copa del Rey quarter-final draw has served up a proper tasty fixture as Barcelona will travel to face giant-killers Albacete, who famously dumped Real Madrid out in the previous round.
David vs Goliath at Carlos Belmonte
The draw, conducted Monday at RFEF headquarters in Las Rozas, has paired La Liga leaders Barcelona with Segunda División’s Albacete. As the lower-ranked side, Albacete will host the tie at their Carlos Belmonte Stadium, where they’ll be hoping to produce another seismic cup shock.
This matchup carries some serious needle after Albacete delivered the biggest surprise of the last round by eliminating Real Madrid in what turned out to be Álvaro Arbeloa’s first match as interim manager. Talk about raining on someone’s parade!
Jefté confident of another upset
Jefté, Albacete’s hero against Madrid with a brace including the decisive goal, was quick to express his excitement about facing the Catalan giants:
“It’s a match we’re really looking forward to,” the striker said after learning Barcelona would be visiting.
While acknowledging the enormous challenge ahead, Jefté and his teammates will draw confidence from their Madrid scalp. The atmosphere in the Manchegan city promises to be absolutely electric – you can bet your dog and bone the locals will be up for this one.
Barcelona can’t afford complacency
The Blaugrana would be proper mugs to take this tie lightly. Their previous round against another Segunda outfit, Racing Santander, turned into a right old nail-biter that wasn’t settled until Lamine Yamal’s last-gasp second goal.
Historical footnote
These clubs haven’t crossed paths in over two decades, with their last meeting dating back to May 1, 2005. Barcelona won that encounter 2-0, but what makes it particularly noteworthy is that it featured a certain Lionel Messi scoring his very first official goal for Barcelona’s senior team.
Now Barça return to the scene of that historic moment, but with Albacete riding high on confidence after their Madrid heroics, this promises to be anything but straightforward for the Catalans.