COPA DEL REY
Copa del Rey away goals rule: what happens if semi-final ends in a tie?
Real Madrid take on Clásico rivals Barcelona on Thursday, in the opening game of a two-legged Copa del Rey semi-final.
There will be no away-goals rule in the 2022/23 Copa del Rey semi-finals, the only round of the competition played over two legs.
RFEF ditches away goals after UEFA ruling
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), which organises the Copa, scrapped the rule in February 2022, ahead of the semi-finals of last season’s edition of Spain’s major men’s domestic cup tournament.
The decision came after UEFA, European football’s governing body, confirmed in 2021 that its club competitions would no longer use goals scored away from home as a tiebreaker if two-legged ties finished level after normal time.
Announcing the abolishment of the away-goals rule in the Copa, the RFEF said it wished to bring its regulations “into line with the [change to the] laws agreed by UEFA’s Executive Committee”.
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How will semi-finals be decided if they end level?
If the scores are level after 180 minutes in the Copa del Rey semi-finals, ties now automatically move on to a 30-minute period of extra time. If the teams remain level at the end of the additional half an hour, the winner is decided by penalty a shoot-out.
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Real Madrid to face Barcelona for final place
In Thursday’s second Copa semi-final first leg, Real Madrid host arch rivals Barcelona at the Bernabéu, with kick-off at 9pm local time (3pm ET).
On Wednesday, Osasuna beat Athletic Club 1-0 in the opening leg of this term’s other last-four clash. On-loan Barça winger Ez Abde scored the winner for Los Rojillos, who visit Athletic in the second leg on 4 April.
Barça and Madrid’s return leg is to be held at the Camp Nou on 5 April.
The final of the 2022/23 Copa del Rey is to be played on 6 May at the Estadio de la Cartuja in Seville.