Barça will arrive in Madrid with the best possible feeling after thrashing Athletic Club at the Johan Cruyff Stadium with goals from Salma Paralluelo, Carla Julià, Sydney Schertenleib, and braces from Claudia Pina and Kika Nazareth (7-1). A large crowd is expected to witness another impressive performance from Pere Romeu's team before they face Real Madrid three times in a week. The Blaugrana will visit the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium next Wednesday, April 25, for the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final (6:45 pm) and again on Sunday, April 29, for a league match (9 pm). Furthermore, on Thursday, April 2, Barça will return to the Camp Nou for the second leg of their Champions League tie (6:45 pm). Salma Paralluelo—who played left-back against Badalona last Wednesday and center forward this Saturday—started the Catalan victory with the first goal of the match after a through ball from Clara Serrajordi to Alexia Putellas bypassed two lines of pressure. The midfielder from Mollet del Vallès crossed the ball and Salma sent it into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

What a three points! Before hearing the Champions League anthem again in Newcastle, Flick's team secured a victory in a stadium where they always have to work incredibly hard. Matches like this decide the league, although naturally, there's still a long way to go, and it's worrying to see so many players finishing matches completely exhausted.

A Barcelona side that looked as hard-working as they were tired secured a valuable victory at the difficult San Mamés ground (0-1) thanks to a stunning goal from Lamine Yamal in the 68th minute. It wasn't the best performance from the Blaugrana, who paid the price for fatigue after the fierce battle against Atlético de Madrid. The 'Finlick's' team now have a four-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of the league.

What was expected to be a season of consolidation for Athletic Club has turned into an obstacle course. At Mestalla, the Basque side had to sweat until the last minute to secure their place in the Copa del Rey semi-finals against Valencia (1-2). The initial optimism has faded as the weeks have gone by. Ernesto Valverde's team is hanging by a thread this season. They are just three points above the relegation zone and were recently eliminated from the Champions League, in a sporting context far more fragile than expected. One of the key figures in this defeat is Nico Williams, who has been plagued by injuries.

Barça is a feast for the eyes. One of those teams that, for a few minutes, makes its fans forget the dreary routine of daily life and this increasingly crazy world. For 18 glorious minutes, Flick's team thrashed Athletic, scoring four goals that could have been more, and sealed a one-sided semifinal, a match played in only one direction, an avalanche of attacking football that overwhelmed Unai Simón (5-0). Barça didn't allow the Basques to write their own part of the story, condemning them to be yet another victim of a team that steamrolls you with the force of a bulldozer, all while heavenly violins play.

San Mamés brought to a close one of the best years in Espanyol's history. 2025 began with the blue and white team... in the downhill zone And Manolo González's continuity hanging by a thread has ended with the Espanyol team in fifth place, close to the Champions League zone; with the Galician becoming one of the most fashionable coaches in the League, and with the blue and whites winning, with a comeback included, in a Champions League stadium – "It would be very nice to screw up a match in a field like this," Manolo said in the pre-match press conference – fifteen days before hosting Joan Garcia's FC Barcelona, the league leaders.

It all starts again. 909 days after the last match, the Barça chant has once again echoed through the stands designed decades ago by Francesc Mitjans. A new stadium rises from the foundations of the old Camp Nou, uniting past and future around a ball that has found the back of the net four times against an Athletic Bilbao side that suffered a heavy defeat on a perfect day at Can Barça. Hansi Flick's team didn't falter on a beautiful day, one of those that will be remembered, not so much for a stadium that still has much work to do, but for the feeling it evoked. It's always great to return, and even more so when the team is performing well. The fans have returned to the stadium, and Flick's Barça is gradually becoming what is expected of them: a team that scores goals and is courageous, both in attack and defense.

Barça said goodbye to the rewarding 2024-2025 season. with a victory against Athletic Club (0-3) thanks to two goals from Robert Lewandowski and one from Dani Olmo from the penalty spot. Here are some quick notes on the match.

Espanyol lose their fear of lions. The blue and whites earned a point against Athletic Club (1-1) in a match in which they took the lead thanks to a rogue goal from Roberto Fernández who neutralised Sancet in the final stretch. Cornellà-El Prat was once again a fortress to dry up one of the teams in the best form of the League and sign a draw that keeps Manolo González's team out of the relegation zone for another week, one point behind Valencia.

The reality was this: having to suffer to get a point after running out of nails from biting them so hard. The debut against Real Sociedad was still a midsummer night's dream, while the trip to Bilbao was a wake-up call. If anyone thought that life without Messi would be a piece of cake, they were deluded. The Argentine, over the last few years, had already pulled the chestnuts out of the fire in games like this. Now the responsibility seems to be taken by Memphis, who with a precious goal prevented the shipwreck. A draw to make up a little for an unfortunate performance by a Barça who, for a few moments in Bilbao, simply survived. There is no consolation in protesting about a goal unjustly disallowed to Araujo just before half-time. To do so would be to hide an ugly reality, that of a team unable to impose its discourse.

The journey through the desert is over. After two years of painful defeats, grimaces of disappointment and scandals off the pitch, Lionel Messi was able to lift a title with the Barça crest in his heart. A Copa del Rey that serves as a toast to a future that promises more joy if the exhibition at La Cartuja (4-0), where there was only one team, is the starting point for further growth. If Messi, who scored a wonderful goal just as he had done in the 2015 Camp Nou final against Athletic, decides to stay and continue to accompany the growth of a generation of youngsters who already have their first title. If Frenkie De Jong, who played his best game since arriving in Catalonia, continues to gain in confidence. If youngsters like Mingueza and Pedri realise that winning is addictive. And once you can lift a title, you don't want to stop. And if Griezmann can make his version of the Copa his version of La Liga. Koeman gave him the starting line-up ahead of Dembélé. And the former Atlético player did not fail.

This Saturday will be the ninth Copa del Rey final between Barça and Athletic Club, the two great historical dominators of the trophy, with 30 and 23 titles respectively. And it will be, at the same time, the penultimate chapter of a rivalry that reached the maximum temperature on May 5, 1984, with the last Copa won by Athletic: that of the so-called Battle of the Bernabeu, Maradona's last official match with Barça.

"We have authorized all regional flags except the Basque flag [the ikurriña] because it is not a regional flag. It is a separatist flag. It is an insult. Before allowing this flag to be displayed, they will pass over my corpse", Manuel Fraga Iribarne, then Minister of Home Affairs and vice-president of a government full of heirs of the dictatorship, stressed in May 1976, a few months after Franco's death. On January 19, 1977, however, less than a year later, the ikurriña was hoisted in the Plaza de la Constitución in San Sebastián. Thanks, in part decisively, to a football derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic which, 45 years ago, helped recover the flag of a people. This Saturday, almost a year after the coronavirus, and with the stands of La Cartuja in Seville empty of people and colour, one of the historical clashes with more tradition in European football will live a special edition on the occasion of the final of the Copa del Rey in 2020 (21.45 h, Telecinco and DAZN). Marcelino's Athletic are looking for their second title of the season after lifting the Spanish Super Cup in January. Imanol's Real are looking to win their first trophy since 1987.