Real Madrid and Barcelona Copa del Rey 2024/25 opponents revealed: third round draw as it happened

Copa draw

Confirmed kick-off times expected to be confirmed in the next 48 hours via the Spanish FA with possible delays on the games relating to Real Madrid and Valencia given the complications over rescheduling their LaLiga game in early Jan. 

that completes the draw....

Tenerife vs. Osasuna 

which leaves...

Cartagena vs Leganes

ante penultimate tie now ...

Elche CF vs Las Palmas

and the final ties...

Eldense vs Valencia CF

Almeria vs Sevilla FC

and the next match up ...

Racing Ferrol vs Rayo Vallecano

next tie..

Racing Santander vs Celta Vigo

next game pits:

Huesca vs Real Betis

so, the next tie will see:

Granada vs Getafe

Former Racing player Colsa is now presented and he's going to man the bowl with the 2A division teams, nine second tier outfits will play nine 1A sides in the remaining match ups.

so, seven games already locked in...

which leaves ...

SD Ponferradina vs Real Sociedad

next game will pit...

Ourense CF vs Real Valladolid

and the first tie out is ...

Marbella FC vs Atlético Madrid

so, the next batch of ties will include three matches...

3 x 1A RFEF sides vs three teams from LaLiga EA Sports

Angel Sanchez from the Galician outfit will assist with the draw.

Oursense CF beat Deportivo la Coruña in the second round (1-0).

We now move onto the third tier sides... Marbella, Ourense CF and Ponferradina...

all three will be guaranteed to face top flight opposition.

The Minera vs Real Madrid game will be staged at the home of CD Cartagena, Municipal Stadium Cartagonova.

which leaves 

UD Logroñes vs Athletic Club

now we have ...

CD Minera vs Real Madrid

Next tie features:

Pontevedra vs Real Mallorca

The Barbastro squad are buzzing with the draw. Remember they went close last season and only lost 2-3 to the Catalan giants.

First side out is .....

UD Barbastro vs. FC Barcelona 

a repeat of last season's 3rd round clash !

Ok, I do believe we're edging towards the first draw which will be the four 2A RFEF sides vs the four Super Cup sides.... here we go...

The final stop on the tour takes us to Cartagena where CD Minera hail from.

The side from Llano del Beal (in the Region of Murcia) are also gathered together and await the draw with expectation. 

The 2A RFEF side play their cup games at Cartagonova, home to Cartagena given the poor infrastructure at their traditional Estadio Municipal Ángel Celdrán.

Focus on Pontevedra next up ... the Galician side eliminated Villarreal 1-0 and incredibly had over 70% possession in the game against Marcelino's side.

And Barbastro's Andres Barrera is in the hall at the RFEF HQ and he too will be on hand to assist with the draw procedure. 

UD Barbastro is the next port of call as the squad tune in from a packed congress hall and Real Madrid is the team they would like to face this time around having faced Barça last season in the third round.

Iñaki Sainz from UD Logroñes is brought to the stage and he will be one of the ball drawing assistants this afternoon.

The likes of Rayo, Atletico, Betis, Leganes, Getafe and Real Sociedad were all made to sweat as they eventually prevailed with only Celta Vigo passing the phase with no issues as they crushed Salamanca.

A reminder that Villarreal, Girona, Alaves and Espanyol were the top flight casualties in the previous round.

Ramos confirms that this round will see the presence of the big guns from the Super Copa, Barça, Mallorca, Real Madrid and Athletic as we see a video reel from last week's second round action.

We're live at the Salon Luis Aragones as our host Saul Ramos welcomes the audience to the draw ceremony.

I can guarantee there will be no 'special messages' from Donald Trump today !

Today's draw today will see the four Segunda RFEF face one of the four Super Cup contenders.

The three survivors from the third tier of Spanish football (1A RFEF) Marbella, Ourense and Ponferradina will face top flight opposition and the remaining nine sides from the second division will be pitted against Primera División opposition.

Arnau, penalty hero for Logroñes

The most dramatic night of Copa giant killing unfolded at Las Gaunas in Logroño.

With the score tied 0-0 in the game between UD Logroñes and Girona, the match went into extra time. Disaster struck for Logroñés in the first extra period when their goalkeeper Enrique Royo suffered a serious injury. With no substitutions left, 19-year-old full-back Pol Arnau stepped in as goalkeeper—and delivered a stunning performance, having never manned the sticks before.

During the next 15 minutes, Arnau kept a clean sheet, making one critical save. The match went to penalties, where Arnau saved Girona’s second shot in the shootout. His heroics secured a 4-3 victory for Logroñés, knocking Girona out of the Copa del Rey.

His father was Francesc Arnau, former FC Barcelona stopper who took his own life three years ago.

Pontevedra eliminate Villarreal

Former Europa League champions Villarreal came a cropper last week falling 1-0 to Galician fourth tier side Pontevedra.

This video shows just how much it means to the players as they celebrated the scalp at the Estadio Municipal de Pasarón

UD Barbastro screening draw from town hall

The team from Huesca province have called upon fans to join the first team at a local congress hall for a screening of the draw with the first team present.

Last season at this stage, UD Barbastro were drawn against FC Barcelona and were only shaded out 2-3 by the Catalan giants. 

As always, at this stage of the competition, much of the limelight will be dedicated to the smaller clubs involved and expect much focus on Barbastro, Pontevedra, Logroño and Llano del Beal (home to CD Minera).

We're just 20 minutes away from the draw which will be staged at the Luis Aragones function room at the Spanish FA headquarters in Las Rozas (Madrid).

There will be the usual preamble and thoughts on the draw from representatives of the clubs involved but I anticipate the whole thing to take approximately 30 minutes or so.

Both the Spanish FA and indeed UEFA have learned how to streamline their draw processes recently with not too much in the 'excess baggage' department.

A reminder of the 32 teams in today's draw

Pot A (Super Cup): Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic and Mallorca.

Pot B (First Division): Valladolid, Celta, Las Palmas, Betis, Rayo, Leganés, Valencia, Atlético, Osasuna, Getafe, Sevilla and Real Sociedad.

Pot C (Second Division): Elche, Granada, Huesca, Almería, Eldense, Racing, Tenerife, Cartagena and Racing de Ferrol.

Pot D (1A RFEF): Ourense, Marbella and Ponferradina.

Pot E (2A RFEF): Barbastro, UD Logroñés and Pontevedra and Deportiva Minera.

The four 2A RFEF survivors

At this stage of the tournament, all the lower ranked sides will host the higher ranked sides, thus guaranteeing that Pontevedra, Barbastro, UD Logroñés & Deportiva Minera will host a side from the Super Cup.

Kings of the Cup enter the fray

Three of the most decorated teams in the Spanish Cup make their debuts in the competition.

Barça have scooped the Copa on 21 occasions with reigning champions Athletic 24 time winners with Madrid completing the podium with their 20 wins.

All three clubs (along with Mallorca) will face one of: Pontevedra, UD Logroñes, CD Minera or UD Barbastro, away in the next round 

Fixture chaos looms for Madrid...

The third round games are earmarked to go ahead on 4/5 January with a possibility that a handful of games may also be staged on the third.

Given the confusion surrounding the rescheduling of the LaLiga clash between Valencia-Real Madrid (originally postponed due to the tragic floods) which was initially established for the 2nd January but with the AFE Player's Union requesting that this be pushed back 24 hours. If this game is to go ahead on the 3rd, this would mean that neither club could play on the 4th or 5th in the Copa and the Valencia and Madrid cup games could be scheduled for the 6th which is Reyes and a Spanish version of Christmas Day.

Real Madrid are also involved in the Super Cup in Saudi that same week too with no room for manoeuvre in this already packed fixture list.

All roads lead to Seville

Once again, Seville's La Cartuja stadium will host the Copa del Rey final with the showpiece match scheduled for 26 April.

Athletic Club are the reigning champions beating Real Mallorca in the 2024 final.

Key 24-25 Cup dates

Third Round: January 4 and 5

Round of 16: January 15

Quarters: February 5

Semi-final first leg: February 26

Second leg of semi-finals: April 2

Final: April 26

CD Minera hoping for a 'big gun'

The fourth tier side from the Murcia Region eliminated Alaves in dramatic fashion last Thursday and their prize is a plum tie against one of the four Super Cup sides.

The prize for the quartet of 2A RFEF teams are home draws against one of the four Super Cup teams with the remaining three 1A RFEF clubs also guaranteed home times against an opponent from LaLiga EA Sports.

Third round pairings

-Four clubs from the 2A RFEF will be pitted at home against the four from the Super Cup

-Three teams from the 1A RFEF will play at home against three from the Primera Division

-Nine Second Division clubs will face one of the nine First Division clubs at home

Copa del Rey third round pots:

Pot A (Super Cup): Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic and Mallorca.

Pot B (First Division): Valladolid, Celta, Las Palmas, Betis, Rayo, Leganés, Valencia, Atlético, Osasuna, Getafe, Sevilla and Real Sociedad.

Pot C (Second Division): Elche, Granada, Huesca, Almería, Eldense, Racing, Tenerife, Cartagena and Racing de Ferrol.

Pot D (1A RFEF): Ourense, Marbella and Ponferradina.

Pot E (2A RFEF): Barbastro, UD Logroñés and Pontevedra and Deportiva Minera.

All set for Copa draw

Today's draw will be staged at the headquarters of the RFEF (Spanish FA) in Las Rozas (Madrid) and will commence at 1pm (local time) which equates to 7am (ET).

This third round also sees the presence of the four x Super Cup sides who received byes into this stage due to their presence in the forthcoming 2025 Super Copa which will be staged in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) in January.

So, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Athletic and Real Mallorca are all in the mix for today's draw.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the third round of the 2024-25 Copa de Rey as the 32 sides left in the competition will discover their opponents for the next stage.