Barcelona v Real Madrid: 2011 Copa del Rey Final?

Sevilla: Last season's Copa del Rey winners - Source: GoogleImages

This lunchtime the draw was made for both the last sixteen and quarter-final stage of the 2010-11 Copa del Rey in Madrid . This is how the draw for the last sixteen stage of the competition panned out:

Almeria (I) v Real Mallorca (I)

Atletico Madrid (I) v Espanyol (I)

Barcelona (I) v Athletic Bilbao (I)

Cordoba (II) v Deportivo La Coruna (I)

Getafe (I) v Real Betis (II)

Real Madrid (I) v Levante (I)

Sevilla (I) v Malaga (I)

Valencia (I) v Villarreal (I)

(I) Primera

(II) Segunda

First Leg matches: 21-23rd December 2010

Second Leg matches: 4-6th January 2011

For me the last sixteen tie of the round is the one between Valencia and Villarreal. Both sides come from the Valencia region in Spain, and both have had positive starts to their respective Primera campaigns. Valencia are currently fourth in the table, while their neighbors Villarreal are one place above them in third. The last time that both sides faced each other in the competition was back in 2006. It was a two-legged affair, one the Valencia came out on top. They won the first leg at the El Madrigal 2-0, and won the return leg at the Mestalla 1-0.

In terms of the draw the quater-final stage of the Copa del Rey, this is how that turned out panned out this lunch time:

Almeria or Real Mallorca v Cordoba or Deportivo La Coruna

Barcelona or Athletic Bilbao v Getafe or Real Betis

Real Madrid or Levante v Atletico Madrid or Espanyol

Valencia or Villarreal v Sevilla or Malaga

First Legs matches: 12th January 2011

Second Legs matches: 19th January 2011

Because of the way that the competition is formatted, there is not the likihood of Barcelona and Real Madrid meeting at the semi-final stage of this season's competition. Should Barcelona get to the semi-finals they will play either Almeria, Real Mallorca, Cordoba, or Deportivo La Coruna. When looking at Barcelona's path to the final its not as difficult as it looks for their traditional rivals Real Madrid.

In Real Madrid's half of the Copa del Rey draw they have to get past potentially Atletico Madrid in the quarter finals, and then potentially either Copa del Rey holders Sevilla or Valencia in the semi-finals. I would imagine Jose upon seeing the draw will be rather annoyed, especially when looking at who Barcelona have got in their side of the draw.

If it all goes to form we are looking at a Barcelona v Real Madrid Copa del Rey final next April. It will be the first time that both sides would have met in the competition, since the 1990 final. On that occasion it was Barcelona who came out on top, winning 2-0 in Valencia.

With the way that both Barcelona and Real Madrid are currently playing  so far this season I would not back against either of them making the final.

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