Athletic Club - UD Tenerife

It was not a match for the faint-hearted at Lezama. After a 1-1 draw during the 120 minutes, Athletic Club beat UD Tenerife 7-6 in a penalty shootout to reach the semi-finals for a second year in a row.

Nanclares saved three penalties in the shootout and Irene Oguiza, making her comeback after a ninth-month injury lay-off, scored the final goal to put Athletic through.

Final feliz para las leonas y para los cientos de personas que desde las gradas auparon al equipo para conseguir una victoria de mucho mérito ante un gran rival.

The Lionesses and the hundreds of people at Lezama got the perfect reward after a tough night against a powerful opponent.

The match started at a high tempo with both sides having chances. With the rain lashing down, the ball moved around the pitch quickly and it didn't take long for the first goal to come.

Ane Elexpuru opened the scoring in the 10th minute. The young full-back linked-up with Ane Azkona down the right flank finishing the move she started.

UD Tenerife soon responded, Patri Gavira heading in at the near post from a corner. The Canary Islanders almost followed that up with a second when Blom had a shot hit the crossbar.

Nevado, Azkona and Pinedo went close for Athletic but were denied by Tenerife's Brazillian shotstopper, Aline Reis.

The visitors dominated most of the second half. Maddi Torre cleared a Gavira effort off the line and Nanclares, in superb form, stopped Tenerife going 1-2 up with a brilliant save.

Athletic were forced to defend deep, but backed by a loud crowd they pushed hard for a winner before the 90 minutes were up. Just as happened when these two sides met in the last 16 back in 2020, the match went into extra time.

Lezama was adamant Jone Amezaga was brought down in the box, but the referee disagreed. Oguiza came off the bench to make her comeback and Itxaso received a second yellow card just before end of extra time.

Nanclares was crucial in the shootout as the two sides kept swapping the lead. The goalkeeper made three saves, two of which would have seen Tenerife go through if the ball had crossed the line. Oguiza stepped up to take the all important shot and made sure Lezama went wild.

Athletic will be in the semi-finals for the second consecutive year. We will discover our opponents on Friday at 13:00 CET.