Copa del Rey

They're crowning, well, not glory, more of the opposite of glory here is that Nadir might be the fact that...

Espanyol today lost after extra time in the first round of the Copa del Rey to third division Sestal.

And he was already under major, major pressure before this.

And look, more than anything here, I think he has to go.

Yeah, definitely.

So I think the big thing that changed for me was when I was growing up, the Copa del Rey was two-legged all the way through.

So you sort of lost that jeopardy because, yes, you got to go to the Bernabeu or San Mames, wherever it was, but you kind of knew you were going there and you were going to get a bit of a beating unless it was a miracle and that over the two legs, they'd ultimately have enough because they could rest in the first leg and then, you know, if the result didn't go their way, the big boys can then throw out all the big guns, they'll be at home and in the second leg and yeah it sort of fizzled out a little bit so I really like this because like when I first moved to Spain I remember that my sort of local team Lenense they got athletic club they drew 1-1 in the first leg and you know you think oh this is really exciting and then it came to the second leg and I think off the top of my head it was 6-0 so yeah It kind of means nothing, even though it's a great day.

It's still sort of memorialised in the club itself.

Initial cars will be built at one of SAIC's Chinese factories before production switches to SAIC's new site in the Spanish port city of Farol in the northwest of the country towards the end of 2028.

And finally, Espanyol has fired coach Manolo González after the La Liga club's shock Spanish Cup exit to fourth-tier Sestau River.

The 47-year-old González was already under pressure after Espanyol started the season with six losses in 10 league matches to leave it 18th in La Liga.

And that's your Spanish news.

By the summer of 2025, Rafinha had helped Barcelona win three major Spanish trophies that season.

La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup.

We've, of course, done episodes on all of those as well.

The Copa del Rey is Spain's big domestic knockout cup competition, a little like the FA Cup in England, and Rafinha had been central to an extraordinary Barcelona season.

But listen carefully to these numbers.

In the complete 2024-25 season, Rafinha played 57 matches for Barcelona.

Played about 70 games already.

Won a Copa del Rey.

Got a cap for Spain as well, pre-World Cup.

He's...

Definitely, man.

So we'll be watching that Copa del Rey start tomorrow.

Also the German Cup as well.

So a lot of good football on.

Comenzó con dos empates contra el Racing Club y contra el Athletic Club.

Perdió contra el Villarreal en un partido muy polémico y va a enfrentar al Tabernes en la Copa del Rey.

Así que vamos a escuchar a Javier el Vasco Aguirre y lo que está alrededor de este partido tan importante para él, además de la salvación.

Esta posibilidad que se nos presenta a partir de mañana, pues es una buena posibilidad.

Hay que jugar con la... a noventa minutos el todo de nada.

Hasta semifinales creo que se dio vuelta, pero de momento sí, hay que dar el primer pasito mañana.

mañana.Javier Aguirre, que estuvo muy cerca de ganar la Copa del Rey con el Mallorca, la pierden contra el Athletic Club y ya en, en penales, ¿no? Sabiendo que el Mallorca no peleaba la liga, es algo similar, Capi, a lo que hoy tiene, eh, con el Valencia.

La salvación como principal objetivo, pero a veces en la copa también tienes un, un respiro y, y logros importantes para la institución.

two games this week.

It's Copa del Rey on Wednesday.

You all know what it is.

It's Jerez in Jerez.

It is probably the tie of the round, I would say.

There's a couple of, you know, real minnows versus giants.

The way they do the Copa del Rey draw does always produce that.

But this game probably, you know, it is the biggest game of the round.