Real Madrid drew 4-4 with Real Sociedad after extra time on April 1st to win 5-4 on aggregate and advance to the final of the Copa del Rey.
Los Blancos won the first leg 1-0 in San Sebastián and survived a 4-3 defeat over 90 minutes at the Santiago Bernabéu to advance thanks to an Antonio Rüdiger effort late in extra time.
Madrid will meet fierce rivals Barcelona in the final, with the Blaugrana also involved in an epic 4-4 draw in their semi-final series against Atlético Madrid.
Here, a look at those games and some of the other high-scoring matches in the history of the Copa del Rey…
Real Madrid 6-6 Barcelona (April 1916)
Three players scored hat-tricks as Real Madrid and Barcelona drew 6-6 after extra time in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey in April 1916.
Madrid pair Luis Belaunde and Santiago Bernabéu netted three each, with Barcelona’s Paulino Alcántara also notching a hat-trick in a thrilling contest which had ended 4-4 after 90 minutes. It was the third meeting between the two teams and a fourth was needed. Los Blancos went on to win it 4-2 after extra time, with Bernabéu scoring seven across the series, which featured 26 goals in total and some controversial officiating from former Madrid player José Berraondo.
Real Madrid 11-1 Barcelona (June 1943)
Real Madrid battered Barcelona 11-1 in the teams’ Copa del Rey (it was named the Copa del Generalísimo in honour of dictator Francisco Franco at the time) semi-final second leg in June 1943.
Barça had won the first match 3-0 at Les Corts and in a controversial second leg, Madrid were 8-0 up at half-time and romped to an extraordinary 11-1 victory. Some of Barça’s players later claimed they had been under pressure from Franco’s military dictatorship to lose the match. It was this game which launched the fierce rivalry between the two clubs.
Athletic Club 12-1 Celta Vigo (May 1947)
The 1946/47 edition of the Copa del Rey (known as the Copa del Generalísmo at the time due to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco) featured a series of high-scoring games, but the biggest one of all came in the quarter-finals as Athletic Club thrashed Celta Vigo 12-1.
The Basques cruised to a huge win in Bilbao, narrowly losing the return in Galicia to advance 12-2 on aggregate. Athletic are the second-most successful side in the Copa del Rey, having won a 24th title in 2024.
Sporting Gijón 5-5 Real Madrid (February 1989)
Real Madrid looked to be cruising to a big win away to Sporting Gijón in the teams’ Copa del Rey quarter-final first leg in February 1989.
Los Blancos led 5-2 with just over 15 minutes left at El Molinón, but were pegged back by late goals from Felipe Miñambres, Narciso Rodríguez and Joaquín Villa. Six days later at the Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid went 5-2 up again, this time winning by that margin to seal a 10-7 aggregate victory en route to the trophy.
Club Siero 1-8 Osasuna (November 1990)
Osasuna finished fourth in La Liga in 1990/91 and the Pamplona-based side secured some big wins along the way, including an amazing 4-0 victory over Real Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu.
In the Copa del Rey, Osasuna thrashed fourth-tier Club Siero 8-1 away from home in the third round and replicated that same scoreline in the second leg against the Asturian side to seal an amazing 16-2 aggregate victory.
Valencia 3-5 Atlético Madrid (February 1996)
Atlético Madrid won a La Liga and Copa del Rey double in the 1995/96 season under Radomir Antić.
En route to winning the cup competition, Atlético beat Valencia 6-5 on aggregate in the semi-finals. The Rojiblancos won the first leg 5-3 at Mestalla, with Milinko Pantić on target twice. The Serbian also scored the winner in extra time against Barcelona in the final.
Barcelona 5-4 Atlético Madrid (March 1997)
After a 4-3 aggregate win over Real Madrid in the first round, Barcelona were drawn against Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals in 1996/97.
Following a 2-2 draw in the first match at the Vicente Calderón, Barça trailed 3-0 and later 4-2 at Camp Nou but somehow prevailed in an epic 5-4 victory on the night. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick for Bobby Robson’s side, with Luís Figo and Pizzi also on target. Milinko Pantić netted all four of Atleti’s goals, but still ended up on the losing side.
Racing Santander 2-6 Real Madrid (February 1999)
Guti scored twice as Real Madrid thrashed Racing Santander 6-2 at El Sardinero in the Copa del Rey in February 1999.
Fernando Hierro, Clarence Seedorf, Sávio and Fernando Morientes scored the other goals for Los Blancos, who had been 2-1 down at one point after first-half strikes from Víctor Sánchez del Amo and Pedro Munitis.
Valencia 6-0 Real Madrid (June 1999)
Valencia stunned Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey semi-finals in June 1999 with a 6-0 win over Los Blancos at Mestalla.
Claudio López and Alain Roche scored two apiece on a memorable night for Valencia, with Goran Vlaović and Gaizka Mendieta getting the others. Madrid won the second leg 2-1, but were beaten 7-2 on aggregate and Valencia went on to defeat Atlético Madrid 3-0 in the final.
Barcelona 9-0 CE L’Hospitalet (December 2011)
L’Hospitalet de Llobregat is a stone’s throw from Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium and in 2011, third-tier CE L’Hospitalet were drawn against Barça in the last 32 of the Copa del Rey.
Thiago Alcántara, Cristian Tello and Isaac Cuenca all scored twice at Camp Nou, with Pedro, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi also on target in a 9-0 win for Pep Guardiola’s side as Lionel Messi was given the night off. Barça won 10-0 on aggregate.
Barcelona 8-1 Huesca (December 2014)
Barcelona thrashed third-tier Huesca 8-1 at Camp Nou in the Copa del Rey in December 2014.
With Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez all rested after a 4-0 win in the first leg, Pedro hit a hat-trick in a big victory for the Blaugrana in the return match. Sergi Roberto, Andrés Iniesta, Adriano, Adama Traoré and Sandro scored the other goals for Luis Enrique’s side. Barça went on to win the cup competition, along with La Liga and the Champions League in a treble triumph.
Villarreal 8-0 Almería (December 2018)
Almería have spent eight seasons in La Liga since 2007/08 and the Andalusian club reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals in 2010/11.
A Segunda side in 2018/19, Almería were thrashed 8-0 by Villarreal in the fourth round, having drawn 3-3 in the home leg. Karl Toko Ekambi scored four for the Yellow Submarine, with Carlos Bacca also on target twice.
Santa Amalia 0-9 Villarreal (November 2023)
Seven different players were on the scoresheet as Villarreal thrashed sixth-tier side Santa Amalia 9-0 away from home in the first round of the Copa del Rey in November 2022.
Samuel Chukwueze and Gerard Moreno scored two each in a huge win for the Yellow Submarine, with Diego Collado, Álex Baena, José Luis Morales, Francis Coquelin and Étienne Capoue also on target.
Hernán Cortés 1-12 Real Betis (November 2023)
Copa del Rey winners in 2022, Real Betis kicked off their cup campaign with a huge win at sixth-tier Hernán Cortés in November 2023.
Willian José scored four times, with midfielder Rodri netting a hat-trick and Abde Ezzalzouli on target twice. Betis ended up losing 1-0 to Deportivo Alavés in the round of 32.
Tardienta 0-12 Getafe (November 2023)
Óscar Rodríguez scored a hat-trick as Getafe thrashed sixth-tier Tardienta 12-0 away from home in the Copa del Rey in November 2023.
On-loan Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood netted a goal in each half, with substitute Borja Mayoral also on target twice in a huge win for the Azulones.
Deportivo Murcia 0-10 Deportivo Alavés (November 2023)
After huge wins for Real Betis and Getafe in the Copa del Rey the previous night, Deportivo Alavés racked up a big scoreline of their own in the first round of the cup competition.
Jon Karrikaburu scored a hat-trick, with Xeber Alkain and Ianis Hagi both on target twice in a 10-0 victory for Alavés away from home against Deportivo Murcia, the first team from Spain’s eighth tier to qualify for the cup competition.
Barcelona 4-4 Atlético Madrid (February 2025)
Barcelona and Atlético Madrid drew 4-4 in an epic encounter in the Copa del Rey semi-finals in February 2025.
Atleti raced into a 2-0 lead inside six minutes at Montjuïc through Julián Álvarez and Antoine Griezmann, but Barça stormed back with goals from Pedri, Pau Cubarsí, Iñigo Martínez and Robert Lewandowski. Having been two down, Hansi Flick’s side were now 4-2 up, but there was still time for another twist as late efforts from Marcos Llorente and Alexander Sørloth earned a 4-4 draw in the first leg. Barça won the second leg 1-0 in Madrid to advance to the final.
Real Madrid 4-4 Real Sociedad (April 2025)
Real Madrid survived a scare at home to Real Sociedad in the teams’ Copa del Rey semi-final second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu in April 2025.
Los Blancos won the first match 1-0 in San Sebastián, but found themselves 3-1 down with 10 minutes left in the second leg and despite scoring twice in quick succession, Real Sociedad forced extra time following a Mikel Oyarzabal effort in added time. Beaten 4-3 over 90 minutes, Madrid made it 4-4 through Antonio Rüdiger five minutes before the end of extra time to seal a dramatic 5-4 aggregate victory.
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