Athletic Bilbao and Levante played out a tightly-contested 1-1 draw at San Mames this evening in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final. Sevilla beat Barcelona in the first leg of the other tie of the round at the Sanchez-Pizjuan last night.
Levante took the lead in the 26th minute through Gonzalo Melero, who was teed up by Jorge de Frutos. Athletic struck back just shy of the hour mark, however, with Inigo Martinez scoring after being assisted by Iker Muniain, who’s been revitalised ever since Marcelino took charge of the Basque club on 4 January.
Both sides are close in La Liga, blessed with talent but unable to find the consistency to put pressure on the Europa League places. Athletic, to be fair, have been a different animal since Marcelino took over and swiftly led them to win the Supercopa de Espana, beating Real Madrid and Barcelona in the process. Levante are ninth, two points clear of eleventh-placed Athletic.
