Six more teams from La Liga, including Atletico Madrid, will start their campaigns in this season’s Copa del Rey on Wednesday, hoping to improve on their performance in the previous year.
With the format of the competition meaning none of the teams playing in the Spanish Supercup (Athletic Bilbao, Mallorca, Real Madrid or FC Barcelona) go into the hat for the first two rounds, Atletico are arguably the biggest club in the first round as they look to improve on last season’s semifinal which saw them beaten 4-0 on aggregate by Cup holders Athletic.
Diego Simeone’s side face Catalan outfit Unio Esportiva Vic, who play in the regional Liga Elit, which is the sixth tier of the Spanish game and who shouldn’t be a threat to a side that contains players such as Alexander Sorloth and Conor Gallagher, reports Xinhua.
Simeone is likely to carry out big squad rotation to the team that lost 1-0 to Real Betis on Sunday, but one rule in the Copa del Rey is that sides must have seven players from their first team squad on the pitch throughout the match, otherwise risk expulsion from the competition.
Sevilla travel to the outskirts of Madrid to play Las Rozas, who play in Group 7 of Spain’s fifth-tier Tercera Division and are clear favorites to continue their improvement under Francisco Garcia Pimienta.
Osasuna have to travel to the far southwest of Spain to face sixth-tier Chiclana, who reached the first round of the cup last season, before losing 5-0 at home to Villarreal and a similar result is likely on Wednesday.
Leganes claimed an important win in La Liga on Sunday and the top-flight minnows are away to Lucena. The fifth-tier club from near Cordoba in the south of Spain may be one of the few ‘minnows’ with a chance of an upset as they top their group in Tercera, while Leganes are more focused on surviving in La Liga than the Copa del Rey.
Celta Vigo are also in the south of Spain to face sixth-tier side San Pedro and should have few problems, while Valencia go to the south of Madrid to play Parla Escuela.
This semi-professional side shouldn’t be a problem for Valencia, but the side currently bottom of La Liga will want a convincing win ahead of their La Liga match at home to Real Madrid next weekend.