Copa del Rey comes alive with excitement and upsets in new format

Spain’s Copa del Rey has been a resounding success this year, with a new format providing a stage for upsets and surprise semifinalists.

Within just a few hours, the worth of the Copa del Rey’s new format was proven.

First, Real Sociedad scored four at the Santiago Bernabeu to eliminate Real Madrid before Inaki Williams netted a stoppage-time winner for Athletic Club to knock out Barcelona.

Last season, both of those quarterfinal ties would have been two-legged affairs, weighted to favor the higher caliber side. Barca and Real Madrid would have had the safety net of a second game to turn things around. Not this time, though.

Indeed, last Thursday provided the starkest vindication for the competition’s switch in format yet, but there had been evidence to support the decision before then.

Take Unionistas’ penalty shootout victory over Deportivo La Coruna in the second round, for example. Or Cultural Leonesa’s last-32 triumph over Atletico Madrid. It’s unlikely either of these upsets would have happened before this season.

Rather than seeking to maintain the status quo, as the previous format was guilty of, the Copa del Rey has liberated the rest of Spanish football.

This is clearest in the early rounds, where lower-league teams are given hosting privileges and two-legged ties, which previously meant smaller teams had to pull off two upsets to progress through just one round, have been replaced with straight knockout fixtures until the semifinals.

Even in the cases where the elite prevailed, the new format has proved its value. Barcelona’s panic in their round of 32 match away to Ibiza was genuine, trailing the tiny island side until the 72nd minute. Antoine Griezmann struck twice to send the Catalans through, but they were less than 20 minutes away from arguably the worst result in their history.

There would have been no such tension in seasons gone by. Look at how Real Madrid were held to a 2-2 draw by minnows Fuenlabrada at the Santiago Bernabeu two years ago and how ultimately it meant next to nothing because of the other leg, won 2-0 at a canter by the capital club.

Perhaps the best way to illustrate the top heavy nature of the Copa del Rey in recent years is to list the teams to have got their hands on the famous trophy. Before last season, Barcelona had won it for four consecutive years, with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid making up the other two winners stretching back to 2010.

Valencia snapped this streak by beating Barcelona in the final last season. As an individual result this was considered something of a shock, but they too are one of Spain’s biggest clubs. In fact, it’s been 14 years since a team not among Spain’s elite level has won the Copa del Rey, with Espanyol winning the competition back in 2006.

This week will see the first legs of the semifinals take place without any sign of Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla or Valencia, the last five clubs to have lifted the Copa del Rey.

Instead, it seems that a Basque derby final between Athletic Club and Real Sociedad might be on the cards, although given the number of cup shocks witnessed this season they certainly can’t afford to be complacent against fellow surprise semifinalists Granada and Mirandes respectively.

An all-Basque final would be a fitting finale to what has been the most memorable Copa del Rey campaign in years. It would be a showcase of what Spanish football has to offer outside Barcelona and Madrid, an opportunity for two of the country’s proudest and most historic clubs to make more history.

The Copa del Rey itself is an historic competition, but had become somewhat unloved in recent times. In making the brave call to embrace change, though, it might just have captured Spanish soccer’s heart again and ensured its future for a long time to come.