(Football news) After leading the Basque team to a 2-0 victory over Alaves in the round of 16, Ernesto Valverde rejoins his previous employers. La Blaugrana defeated Unionistas 3-1. 

Athletic Bilbao has been showcasing their knockout skills since the start of the 2023–24 campaign. They have advanced to the semifinals of the previous four Copa del Rey championships, and they have also finished as runners-up in the 2019–20 and 2020–21 competitions, which had their finals two weeks apart.

A one-time Copa del Rey winner with upcoming foes Barcelona, Valverde – who also led Athletic to the 2014-15 final during his second of three spells in charge of the club – has overseen a quartet of relatively straightforward successes in the current edition, where Rubi, Cayon, Eibar and Alaves have been no match for Wednesday’s hosts.

Athletic prevailed away from home against the latter three sides before putting two past Alaves without reply at San Mames on January 16, where Asier Villalibre struck either side of the half-time whistle to send Athletic into the quarters for the fifth year running.

Not since the 2015-16 campaign have the Red and Whites been sent packing at this point – although Barcelona were their conquerors over two legs that year – and Athletic enter the midweek knockout battle on the back of suffering their first defeat in any competition since October 22.

After embarking on a 14-game unbeaten run – including a sequence of six straight victories from December 16 to January 16 – Athletic were undone by a Hugo Duro header in Saturday’s 1-0 La Liga loss to Valencia, dropping below Barcelona into fourth place in the top-flight standings in the process.

Even if Athletic is hoping to win seven straight games at home against Barcelona, they still have a lot to learn from their performance against the Spanish heavyweights. However, the Blaugrana took advantage of their error to take them off the podium last weekend.

In the match against Real Betis, Ferran Torres emerged victorious with a heroic hat-trick and set up Joao Felix’s sublime outside-of-the-foot strike. However, the highlight of the game went to the lively Lamine Yamal and top-flight defensive debutant Pau Cubarsi, who displayed performances well beyond their teenage years.

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