It doesn’t have the prestige of Copinha or the publicity of the Youth League, but the youth Copa del Rey also has a charm that makes it special.l. It’s not kids from Brazil or the big European cities who put all their effort and enthusiasm into being the best, but the kids from our neighborhoods, the neighbor’s son. Those who recently were playing in the next street and now dream of making the leap to professional. More than 2,000 boys from all the quarries of the Division of Honor started the tournament months ago with the hope of becoming champion of Spain but only about 100 of them, those from Real Madrid, Betis, Espanyol and Celta, have reached the Final Four that starts this Wednesday at the Anxo Carro de Lugo.
Real Madrid, always the headliner, aspires to lift a title that had not been disputed for two years due to COVID and has not been lifted since the 2016-17 season. It won’t be easy at all. A Hernán Pérez’s boys have had the upper hand in the semifinals, Aitor Martínez’s Betis, the best team of the season in the Division of Honor: undefeated in Group D, which leads with 95 points (it can exceed 100) and in which he has scored 101 goals and conceded only 12. A real outrage. Álvaro Ginés, Julen Jon Guerrero, Jiménez and Marvel are the backbone of a Madrid that will have to face a Betic defense in which the pair of central defenders Garreta and Isma Sierra and goalkeeper García Alejo stand out., who has only conceded eight goals all season. Dani Pérez, starter in Julen Guerrero’s Under-17 National Team, is the star in the middle of the Verdiblanco field.
In the other semifinal clash, Espanyol-Celta, the Vigo side will have the support of the stands. The Galician team leads its group in the Division of Honor and although it does not have players as mediatic as Miguel Carvalho, one of the great pearls of the U-17, it is the best leader in the category after Betis. Claudio Giraldez’s men, with boys like Yoel Lago and Pablo Meixus, aspire to put Celta in their first final since 1965, in which they lost to Athletic.