The Immortal Joaquín Scores An Outrageous Olímpico In Copa Del Rey Semis

Whoever comes through the Real Madrid-Barcelona matchup will be the favorite in the 2019 Copa del Rey Final, but if you didn’t know, that match is being staged at the Estadio Benito Villamarín in Seville, home of Real Betis, and the Béticos are using that inspiration to power through the competition.

It’s already been a stunning season for Betis — including an upcoming Europa League Round of 32 tie with French side Rennes — but today’s Copa del Rey first leg against Valencia at the Benito Villamarín represented the club’s first semifinal appearance in 14 years.

In front of a record crowd of 57,123, the pressure could’ve swallowed the side that’s so often in the shadow of city rivals Sevilla. However, things couldn’t have started any better for the home team.

Just before the stroke of halftime, Loren opened the scoring after Betis worked a short corner and won two headers in the box.  

In the 54th minute, Betis got a second off another corner, but this one was a bit more spectacular. 37-year-old club legend Joaquín stood over the set piece, saw the positioning of Valencia keeper Jaume Doménech and went directly for goal.

After a bit of confusion, the referee rightly pointed to the center circle and awarded the olímpico to Joaquín. There’s no goal-line technology in Spain, but it only took the VAR 16 seconds to award this one.

GOAL!!! BETIS 2-0 Valencia 54 mins.

JOAQUÍN SCORES FROM A CORNER!!

He absolutely whips it in and catches Jaume out, terrible goal to concede for Valencia but it’s all Betis now, Valencia are reeling. pic.twitter.com/5SpoN0tEPO

— Brendy Boyle (@BrendyBoyle) February 7, 2019

But then things got really sad at the el Villamarín. 

Valencia would first score a vital away goal through Russian World Cup hero Denis Cheryshev. 

Then, in the 92nd minute, Valencia equalized through Kevin Gameiro (still sporting the lasting effects of the black eye he received after clashing with Gerard Pique). 

So it’s 2-2 between Real Betis-Valencia and 1-1 between Real Madrid-Barcelona following the first legs. The second legs are scheduled for Feb. 27 (Madrid) and Feb. 28 (Valencia).