MADRID, 5 One. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Two historic Spanish football stadiums such as La Romareda and El Molinón-Enrique Castro Quini will measure this Thursday the ambition in the Copa del Rey of Sevilla and Villarreal, respectively, while the most modest of the teams in the round of 32, Atlético Mancha Real, will seek to extend his dream against one of the ‘kings’ of the competition, Athletic Club.
Sevilla, currently second-placed in LaLiga Santander, will try to forget their current problems with casualties and carry out as efficiently as possible their visit to another cup champion like Zaragoza, who is not at his best in LaLiga SmartBank.
The Seville team has already suffered a lot in their two previous qualifiers against Córdoba, with victory in extra time, and Andratx, on penalties, and arrives in the Aragonese capital with the wear and tear of last Monday in Cádiz and loss of new troops such as Bono and Munir, already in the Africa Cup, or as much as possible for Fernando, with ankle problems, in addition to the injured Delaney and the coronavirus suspects who were already missing in the Nuevo Mirandilla. The good news is the return of Koundé.
Faced with this situation and a calendar without respite, Lopetegui, who has already made it clear in the previous one that he needs reinforcements, could give minutes to less common players and to someone else from the subsidiary apart from forward Iván Romero, who starts in Cádiz.
Zaragoza will try to take advantage of this, which comes to the game with three defeats in a row and more concerned about getting away from relegation to the First RFEF, but which will try to please its fans against a ‘big’ rival.
For their part, in El Molinón-Enrique Castro Quini, Sporting and Villarreal will experience a tie also with a certain flavor of ‘Primera’, but with favoritism for a ‘Yellow Submarine’ that arrives launched.
The Castellón team has accumulated six consecutive victories among all competitions with 25 goals in favor, ten of them in the last two games against Alavés and Levante, and a toned Gerard Moreno, although he will attend impaired in his ability to rotate while waiting to know if any of those suspected of being affected by the coronavirus can play. Emery confirmed again the loss of Danjuma, who joins those of Coquelin and Alcácer, and those of Chukwueze, Dia, Mandi and Aurier, who have left for the Africa Cup.
For his part, in Sporting de Gijón, twelfth classified in LaLiga SmartBank, his coach, David Gallego, has already warned that he will put an eleven with a mixture of the usual and those who have fewer minutes in order to be as good as possible to the league clash against Malaga.
THE ATHLETIC LAUNCHES IN MANCHA REAL
In addition, the Estadio La Juventud, fiefdom of the modest Atlético Mancha Real, a group of the lowest category (Second RFEF) that still survives, is already prepared to experience a ‘party’ with the visit of Athletic Club, current runner-up and that is always growing in the ‘tournament of the k.o’.
The Jaen team is looking forward to this cup duel again after leaving another ‘First’ like Granada out in the previous round, although in front they will have a rival who has 23 Cups in their record and a total of 39 finals of the competition .
In addition, the Biscayan team arrives in good spirits at its premiere in this Copa del Rey after ending more than four months without winning at home with a good victory at El Sadar (1-3) last Monday and with the good news to recover for this clash Raúl García, Zárraga, Unai Núñez and Lekue, as well as coach Marcelino García and central Vivian, the starter at the start of the season.
Anyway, Rubén Uría, second to the Asturian, confirmed that he will have an eleven with rotations and the proof is that Unai Simón, Yeray Álvarez, Vencedor and De Marcos are not traveling. With these wickers, the ‘Lions’ will try to extinguish the dream of an Atlético Mancha Real as soon as possible, which will try to take advantage of the measures of its stadium, the encouragement of its public and the always complex artificial turf.
In addition, on Thursday cupbearer will be completed with visits from Osasuna, Cádiz and Elche to LaLiga SmartBank teams. The ‘rojillos’, in a bad streak in the league, will face a team on the rise like Girona, while the Cadista team will look for a pass against Fuenlabrada and Francisco will return with the franjiverde to Almería, where the Second Division leader awaits and who has been severely punished by the coronavirus.
–THURSDAY PROGRAM IN THE COPA DEL REY.
Fuenlabrada – Cádiz 4:00 p.m.
Girona – Osasuna 4:00 p.m.
Real Zaragoza – Seville 6:00 p.m.
Sporting de Gijón – Villarreal 18.00.
Almería – Elche 8:00 p.m.
Atlético Mancha Real – Athletic Club 8:00 p.m.
Rayo Majadahonda – Atlético de Madrid 9:30 p.m.