Having sent the defending champions packing, Atletico Madrid continue their quest for Copa del Rey stardom when quarter-final opponents Sevilla head to the Wanda Metropolitano on Thursday night.
Los Rojiblancos ended Real Madrid's hopes of back-to-back triumphs with a 4-2 beating of Los Blancos in the last 16, while Los Palanganas ran out 3-1 winners over Getafe in the most recent round.
Match preview
© Reuters
After coming out on the wrong end of the scoreline in an eight-goal Supercopa de Espana extravaganza with Real Madrid, Atletico made the most of their bitter rivals' Saudi Arabian fatigue to complete their revenge mission in the Copa del Rey, where attacking excellence was also the order of the day.
Another 30 minutes were required after the two sides shared four goals between them in normal time, but Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo Riquelme's efforts after extra time propelled Diego Simeone's crop into their second successive Copa del Rey quarter-final, but the top prize remains elusive.
Since clinching their 10th and most recent Copa crown in 2012-13, Atletico have come up short in four of their last six quarter-final appearances - including against recent victims Real Madrid in 2022-23 - but their success over Los Blancos extended Los Rojiblancos' astounding unbeaten run at home to 25 matches.
It has been over a year since Simeone last oversaw a competitive defeat at the Metropolitano Stadium, where Barcelona prevailed 1-0 in La Liga action on January 8, 2023, and an Alvaro Morata strike was enough to see off Granada in Monday evening's top-flight battle.
With Valencia doing Atletico a favour by defeating Athletic Bilbao, Simeone's side have risen to fourth in the La Liga table before turning their attention back to the Copa del Rey, where they have not lost at home since January 2018, although that defeat was inflicted upon them by their upcoming foes.
© Reuters
While the Europa League provided Sevilla a safe haven from their La Liga troubles in the 2022-23 season, the serial European second-tier champions are now seeking a saving grace in the Copa del Rey amid their prolonged predicament in the top flight of Spanish football.
Quique Sanchez Flores's side have already racked up four away wins in this season's edition, seeing off a trio of lower-tier opponents in Quintanar, Atletico Astorga and Racing Ferrol before dumping Getafe out in the last-16 stage, earning a 3-1 win over their La Liga counterparts on January 16.
A Sergio Ramos opener and Isaac Romero brace proved telling that day, and the latter also broke the deadlock in Sevilla's La Liga trip to upstarts Girona on Sunday, but his effort was rendered meaningless as the Artem Dovbyk-inspired title-challengers stormed to a 5-1 victory.
Still flirting with danger in 17th place in the La Liga rankings - only one point clear of the drop zone - the knockout connoisseurs bid to improve on last year's Copa del Rey campaign, which ended with a quarter-final loss to Osasuna, but Los Palanganas secured a 5-2 aggregate win over Atletico in the 2017-18 quarters.
More recent showdowns have tended to go the way of Atletico, though, as Simeone's side boast three successive victories over Sevilla in La Liga, edging to a 1-0 home win just before Christmas after subjecting Los Palanganas to a 6-1 obliteration in the capital 10 months ago.
Team News
© Reuters
By virtue of a final 2-2 draw with Ghana in Africa Cup of Nations Group B, Reinildo's Mozambique have suffered an early exit from the continental competition, despite the left-back's dramatic injury-time equaliser against the Black Stars on Monday night.
Reinildo is due to arrive back in Madrid before Thursday's game rolls around, although his on-field return should be pencilled in for the weekend's La Liga clash with Valencia instead, and Simeone remains without Thomas Lemar (Achilles), Cesar Azpilicueta (knee) and Vitolo (ACL) for the time being.
During the beating of Granada, Argentinian attacker Angel Correa came off the bench for what may be his final appearance in an Atletico jersey - the 28-year-old is believed to be on the cusp of joining Al-Ittihad - and Juventus' Moise Kean is expected to arrive as his replacement imminently.
An attacking acquisition would not go amiss for Sevilla right now, as Morocco's Youssef En-Nesyri remains on international duty for the time being, although the visitors' injury crisis has eased significantly over the past few weeks.
Marcos Acuna has stepped up his recovery from a thigh problem and might force his way into the squad this week, while Loic Bade should also be fine despite muscular overload, but Nemanja Gudelj (knee), Dodi Lukebakio (knee) and Kike Salas (hamstring) remain out.
The experienced Marcao will be drafted into the Sevilla backline if Bade cannot make it, and Flores ought to consider reverting to a four-man wall after his five-man defence were torn to shreds by Girona at the weekend.
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Savic, Gimenez, Hermoso; Molina, Koke, De Paul, Saul, Lino; Morata, Griezmann
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Dmitrovic; Navas, Marcao, Ramos, Pedrosa; Jordan, Sow, Rakitic; Lamela, Romero, Ocampos
We say: Atletico Madrid 3-1 Sevilla
Atletico may not be as watertight at the back as the Simeone teams of old, but Los Rojiblancos remain unyielding in front of the Metropolitano faithful and have not lost to Sevilla on home territory since the 2017-18 Copa del Rey, a streak which ought to be extended on Thursday.
While the visitors have won for fun away from home in this season's tournament, things could turn ugly pretty quickly if they fail to learn the lessons from their Girona annihilation, and we can only picture Atletico strolling into the final four.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
