Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Barcelona: 5 Talking Points as wasteful Barca crash out tournament| Copa del Rey 2019-20

#2 More upset recorded in the Copa del Rey

Athletic Bilbao knocked out Barcelona

Haeding into this season, a lot of radical changes were made to the Copa del Rey, with the chief two being the expansion of the tournament to include more lower division and amateur teams, as well as the scrapping of the two-legged ties until the semifinal.

Home advantage was also given to the lower ranked sides and the fallback to this was that fans of unheralded clubs in small locales got the chance to see mega superstars in flesh and blood in their stadiums.

It is expected that the long tradition of the Copa del Rey being dominated by the bigger sides would end and more 'giant killings' - as is the case in the FA Cup - would be recorded and while seven of the eight quarterfinalists were 'big clubs' from LaLiga, this season's Copa del Rey has had its own fair share of upsets.

Perhaps the biggest of the earlier stages came when unfancied Cultural Leonesa knocked out heavyweights Atletico Madrid in the round-of-32, while UD Ibiza also ran Barcelona ragged at the same stage.

Segunda side CD Mirandes knocked out Sevilla in the round-of-16 to book their place as the only non-LaLiga side in the last eight and they continued their good run by eliminating high-flying Villarreal with a 2-1 victory.

The remaining ties all involved LaLiga sides but crucially, it saw the lower ranked side progress at the expense of their more illustrious opponents.

Granada kicked things off by knocking out defending champions Valencia 2-1 courtsey a brace by former Los Che Roberto Soldado, while Real Sociedad also ended Real Madrid's 21-game unbeaten run with a 4-3 win at Santiago Bernabeu.

Athletic Bilbao's win over Barcelona means that none of the four semifinalists have won the Copa del Rey since 1986 and the alteration of the competition is already reaping dividends.