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MADRID (AP) — Iñaki Williams scored six minutes into stoppage time as Athletic Bilbao won 2-1 at Valencia to reach the semifinals of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, and its Basque Country rival Real Sociedad made it to the last-four by winning 3-2 at Alaves.
Athletic will be playing in its sixth Copa semifinal in seven seasons. It won the title in 2024 and was runner-up to Barcelona in 2020-21 and to Sociedad in 2019-20.
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Williams scored the winning goal with a left-footed strike from the middle of the area after a cross by his younger brother Nico Williams following a breakaway.
Athletic, which was winless in three matches across all competitions, had taken the lead in the 26th after an own-goal by Umar Sadiq, who also equalized for the hosts in the 35th.
Athletic’s Mikel Jauregizar missed a 75th-minute penalty.
Before the match, Spanish media reported that fans threw several objects at the bus carrying Athletic’s players.
The victory comes a few days after a mural with drawings of Iñaki and Nico Williams was vandalized in Bilbao, where some fans have criticized them.
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Sociedad’s triumph
Young Iceland forward Orri Oskarsson scored an 80th-minute winner for Sociedad, which will be playing in the semifinals for the third straight season. It last reached the Copa final when it won the competition in 2019-20.
Abde Rebbach put the hosts ahead in the eighth minute before Mikel Oyarzabal equalized for Sociedad in the 15th. Alaves moved back ahead with a penalty converted by Toni Martínez in the 29th but Gonçalo Guedes evened the match again in the 76th.
Martínez missed a 67th-minute penalty.
Sociedad is unbeaten since losing 2-1 at home to Girona in the Spanish league in December. It was coming off a 1-1 draw at Athletic in the league on Sunday.
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Alaves, which lost the 2016-17 Copa final to Barcelona, hadn’t made it to the quarterfinals since 2017-18. It was coming off two straight Spanish league wins.
On Tuesday, Lamine Yamal and Ronald Araujo scored in each half as Barcelona beat second-division Albacete 2-1. Albacete had shocked Real Madrid in the round of 16, eliminating the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/athletic-bilbao-real-sociedad-both-224729196.html
Author : TALES AZZONI
Publish date : 2026-02-04 22:47:00
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