Athletic Club - RCD Espanyol

Athletic beat RCD Espanyol 1-0 at The Cathedral to book a place in the quarter-finals. The Lions will discover their opponents on Friday as they look to reach the semi-finals for a fourth year in a row.

An Oscar de Marcos goal beat an RCD Espanyol side who were completely and utterly subdued by a tactically astute performance from Los Rojiblancos.

Very early on, Alex Berenguer and Oier Zarraga showed Athletic's intent to get shots away with couple of long-distance efforts that missed the target.

Joselu had a goal ruled out for offside on 26 minutes, the first and only time Espanyol breached Julen Agirrezabala's area Athletic, in a tremendous defensive performance of both pressing and positioning, never let them get close again.

The strike came off the back of a flowing team move in the 26th minute. Zarraga played a pass into Oihan Sancet, who teed up De Marcos with a sly back heel, the right-back then slotting a low drive past Joan Garcia. The 37,564 spectators braving the cold to attend went wild.

The attendance only serves to prove how much this competition means to Athleticzales. No doubt they will be out in full force again for Sunday's match against Real Madrid.

Sancet hit a couple of volleys that went into the goalkeeper's hands. Athletic couldn't extend their lead, but they were keeping a tight grip on the game. Raúl García also forced the visiting goalkeeper into action as the game ebbed out.

Now it's time to think about beating Real Madrid, getting back on track in LaLiga and climbing up the table.