Alex Berenguer scored the lone goal of the match in the 89th minute to send Athletic Bilbao to the semi-finals of the competition.
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Real Madrid got knocked out of the Copa de Rey after a 1-0 loss to Athletic Bilbao in the quarterfinal fixture at San Mames Barria on Thursday. Despite the loss, Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti wasn’t too pessimistic and reather felt that the defeat will make his side “stronger”. Alex Berenguer scored the lone goal of the match in the 89th minute to send Athletic Bilbao to the semi-finals of the competition. With Barcelona, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid already out, the Los Blancos were the firm favourites to win the domestic cup while in La Liga, they are in the driving seat too, four points ahead of Sevilla at the summit of the points table.Â
? FP: @AthleticClub 1-0 @realmadrid
⚽ Berenguer 89′ #Emirates | #CopaDelRey pic.twitter.com/gX12wkK1qo— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) February 3, 2022
In the post-match press conference Ancelotti insisted that this wasn’t the worst match of the season so far, stating: “Our plan didn’t change much. As in other games, we wanted to play the ball out from the back, but they pressed well and we didn’t bring it out cleanly. We had some more control later in the game and had a clear chance with Casemiro.Â
“The game seemed under control and we felt we’d have had the advantage in extra time because they had put a lot of energy into the game until then, but then they scored their late goal. It was even until the final minute. We knew it was going to be difficult, as it also was in other matches we’ve played against them this season. Athletic deserved the win, but no, I don’t think this was our worst match of the season.”
Real Madrid had the majority of the ball possession but couldn’t create too many good chances while Athletic Bilbao played with great intensity and created a decent number of chances to test the visiting goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.Â
Asked why Real Madrid couldn’t correct their problems bringing the ball out from the back, Ancelotti said: “I think we tried to play out wide too much. We should have gone central a little more, even using Courtois more. We talked about this at half time, but it didn’t turn out as we wanted.”
Real Madrid struggled to create chances in the absence of Karim Benzema, and the Brazilian trio of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Casemiro, who played on their return from international duty looked off the pace. Vinicius was substituted early in the second half, before Casemiro’s miss-pass paved the way for Berenguer’s goal.
Luka Jović, Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale weren’t involved at all in this game, so Ancelotti was asked why they didn’t play a single minute between them. To that, he said: “I brought Camavinga and Isco on for Kroos and VinĂcius because of fatigue. I was waiting for extra time to make another change, but unfortunately they scored and we ran out of time. But, why ask about just these three players? Why not ask about Ceballos or Carvajal too? There were many players who didn’t play.”
Asked for his general feeling on Real Madrid’s latest Copa del Rey exit and the fact that their drought in this competition continues, the coach said: “We’re sad because we want to win every competition. We won the Super Cup, now we’ve lost in this one. There are two other tournaments that we need to be focused on. This defeat will make us stronger. We knew it would be difficult here and that we were missing players.”
