Osasuna manager Jagoba Arrasate: “The cup is magical” | OneFootball

Wednesday’s Copa del Rey quarter-final between Osasuna and Sevilla saw the home side win 2-1 in Pamplona. The thrilling game had some late drama as Chimy Ávila’s goal with 20 minutes left to play appeared to have given Osasuna the win until Youssef En-Nesyri’s 94th-minute equaliser sent the game to extra time.

Having already played an additional 30 minutes in last week’s cup fixture against Real Betis, Los Rojillos didn’t let tired legs stop them. Barcelona loanee Ez Abde secured the victory for his team, exploiting a large patch of empty space on the left and calmly placing his shot past the defender and goalkeeper to send the home crowd into raptures in the 99th minute.

After the game, Osasuna manager Jagoba Arrasate spoke to Diario AS about the game. “The cup is magical,” he said, reminiscing on the heart-stopping drama of both this match and last week’s game.

“We’ll struggle to get sleep tonight”. We’re extremely proud of ourselves tonight, both from the result and the performance on the pitch,” commented the head coach on qualifying for the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.

Arrasate also showed great gratitude to the home fans, who he says turned El Sadar into a furnace where you couldn’t feel the cold of the night. He added: “The crowd played alongside us. While Sevilla were superior to us in the first half, they pushed us to keep pressing on”.

Osasuna progress into the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. Having never won the cup before, they’ll be dreaming of returning to the final after their heart-wrenching 2005 loss. However, with opponents such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Athletic Club, and Valencia still in the running, they have no easy task ahead of them.

GSFN | Nicolás Antúnez de Mayolo