PREVIEW | Athletic Club v FC Barcelona

Wednesday at 9.30pm CET, there's a new challenge for FC Barcelona. After seeing off lower league opponents Barbastro and Unionistas Salamanca, and by no means having everything their own way in either game, they now face a Copa del Rey quarter final trip to San Mamés, home of Athletic Club. As usual, you will find all the information you need about kick-off times around the world and how to find the game on TV in our essential guide.

Following disappointment at the Spanish Super Cup, Barça came very close to dropping two crucial league points away to Real Betis on Sunday, but two late goals from João Félix and in-form Ferran Torres eventually won that one 4-2. Now their attention switches to the knockout tournament, with a league game at home to Villarreal to follow on Saturday.

Historic clash

It's another single-leg encounter, and the fact the game is being played in Bilbao makes things harder still in one of the classic fixtures in this competition, between the two teams that have lifted the trophy the most times over the years. Barça hold the record with 31 wins, while Athletic have 23, but none at all since 1984. The Basques have reached the final six times since then, but have lost every time.

Athletic lost four of those finals to Barça, all in the last 15 years. The clubs have an astonishing knack of crossing paths in this competition, with no fewer than eight meetings just since 2014. And despite Barça's winning run in finals, when the teams have met in earlier rounds things have not always gone their way. Since the competition adopted it's new one-legged format, Barça have already had to go to San Mamés on two occasions and lost both times.

In 2020, Iñaki Williams won it for the red-and-whites by scoring the only goal three minutes into injury time. And in 2022, despite Pedri scoring right at the very end to make it 2-2, an Iker Muniain penalty in extra time meant the Basques advanced again.

Team news

Gavi, Marcos Alonso, Marc-André ter Stegen, Iñigo Martínez, Raphinha all miss out once again, but the good news is that Andreas Christensen's foot issues are over and he has been named in the Barça squad.

Athletic have been missing key midfielder Dani García to a hamstring injury but a man who has caused plenty of problems for the Catalans over the years, Iñaki Williams is back with the squad after Ghana's elimination from the African Cup of Nations. 

Athletic form guide

The Basques are not playing European football this year, and in La Liga have spent the whole season hovering just below the Champions League places. Until they lost 1-0 to Valencia at the weekend, they had strung together a run of 14 games in all competitions without defeat, a streak that began immediately after they lost to Barça at the Estadi Olimpic in October of last year, the day that Marc Guiu marked his debut in amazing fashion by coming on as a substitute late in the game and scoring within seconds!

Athletic's cup run began with a 2-1 win at Catalan outfit Rubi. They then went to Cantabria to beat Cayón 3-0, saw off second division Eibar 2-0 and in the round of 16 beat another fellow Basque side Alavés 2-0, the only top flight side they have met until now.

Xavi says

"Athletic are an aggressive side and they will pressure us a lot. They have a great coach and international players who are in excellent form such as Nico Williams, Sancet and De Galarreta" said the coach on Tuesday. "Also, they have a stadium and fans that make a lot of noise and gets behind them. It will be a tough game and we will have to compete."