Betis v Atletico, Getty Images 05 February 2026, 23:56

In the near future, Spanish football will be gripped by cup fever, and even the confrontations in La Liga will take a bit of a back seat. Because in this draw we have already reached the quarter-final stage, and this is the time when it is frankly no joke to become a team from the “elite” division, because it is no longer so easy to fight representatives of lower leagues on our way. And when it comes to the confrontation between the participants of La Liga, then the playoff round simply does not forgive mistakes.

That is why Atletico Madrid had certain reservations before visiting Betis of Seville, which currently plays its home matches at the Estadio de La Cartuja, so the “green and white” sea is forced to cover the orange rows of seats of this arena in Seville. Manuel Pellegrini’s team tried to give a real side to Diego Simeone’s wards, but in the end what came out of it.

Because the hosts frankly did not guess with the tactics for this game, while Atlético chose a purely counterattacking model and actually drove the ice rink over their opponents. At the same time, special attention should be paid to Ademola Lukman, who actively opened up behind the backs of the Sevillian defenders, and they simply did not understand that this should be countered.

The consequences were not long in coming – the fate of the match was decided already in the first half, because the “mattress players” did not regret sending as many as three goals to the opponents, while in response, only the moment with Eze’s long shot and Avila’s shot in the center of the penalty area over the goal could scare them a little. Instead, Ganzko from Koke’s corner from the left wing, Simeone from Ruggeri’s cross and Luqman himself at half-time from Barrios’ pass were killers in the away box.

At the same time, the Nigerian could have secured an even greater advantage for his own team, but it was not without extravagance on his part. However, in the global context, it did not change anything at all. As well as a bunch of substitutions from Pellegrini at the beginning of the second half in the hope of at least somehow changing the game in favor of his own team.

It is possible that Betis started to keep the ball at their feet a little more. But this, on the other hand, opened up space for Atlético for another counterattack, and Griezmann began to take his word here, who first scored himself from Ademola’s pass, and then already assisted a fresh Almada at the end of the game. At that moment, there were almost no fans left in the stands. That’s not what they came for on Thursday night.

The final whistle of the chief referee Cesar Soto Grado sent Atletico Madrid to the semi-finals of the Spanish Cup, while Betis of Seville finished the tournament early.

Betis — Atletico 0:5
Goals: Ganzko, 12, Simeone, 30, Lukman, 37, Griezmann, 62, Almada, 83

Betis: Adrian – Ruibal, Bartra (Nathan, 46), D. Llorente, Gomez – Deossa (Fidalgo, 46), Roca – Antoni (Riquelme, 73), Fornals (Altimira, 74), Ezzalzuli – Avila (Ortiz, 46).

Atletico: Musso — M. Llorente (Mendoza, 67), Pubil, Ganzko, Ruggeri — Simeone (Molina, 66), Barrios (Jimenez, 50), Koke, Baena (Almada, 67) — Lookman (Vargas, 79), Griezmann.

Warning: Nathan, D. Llorente