The draw for the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, held on January 8 at the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas, brought together FC Barcelona and Real Betis at the Estadi Olímpic Lluis Companys. It is a demanding duel for both sides, as they are teams with similar styles that, when they met in LaLiga, drew two at the Andalusian team's home ground. However, this match has a peculiarity, as it has not happened for almost three decades.
The last time these two teams faced each other in this tournament was in the 2010/2011 season. The green and white team was in the Second Division at that time. Despite having been in the top flight of Spanish football since 2015, at that time it was experiencing a few years of instability, in which it was unable to stay in the First Division. Returning to the Copa del Rey, that clash took place in the quarter-finals, one round more than in this case, and the tie was over two games, one on each ground.
The first leg was at the Camp Nou, on 12/10/2011, 14 years ago. The Barcelona team, coached by Pep Guardiola, came out with the star eleven, except for the goalkeeper and the left back: Pinto; Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Mawxell; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Villa (Keita, min. 72), Messi (Jeffren, min. 86) and Pedro (Afellay, min. 78). The final result against Pepe Mel's pupils was 5-0 and the tie was well on track for the return match.
A week later the complementary duel of the series took place. The Catalans had one foot in the semi-finals, so the starting eleven was more of a rotation: Pinto; Adriano, Piqué, Milito, Maxwell; Mascherano, Xavi (Busquets, min. 79), Keita; Bojan (Jeffren, min. 86), Messi and Afellay (Abidal, min. 79). A double in the first 10 minutes by Jorge Molina put the Blaugranas on notice. However, Messi calmed the local spirits with a goal in the 37th minute. Just before half-time, Arzu scored the 3-1 in favour of Real Betis, which was the final result of the match.
FC Barcelona went through to the next round and in the penultimate phase they met Almería. A solid performance by the Blaugranas in both matches gave them a ticket to the final of the Copa del Rey after beating the Andalusian team with an aggregate score of 0-8 (5-0 and 0-3). The final, held at Mestalla, was a very tough Clásico that Real Madrid ended up winning after a header from Cristiano Ronaldo in the 103rd minute of extra time.