Bilbao looks to avoid crisis talk with Copa del Rey visit to Cultural Leonesa

MADRID, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Reputations are on the line on Tuesday with three games in the fourth round of Spain's Copa del Rey knockout tournament.

Athletic Club travels to play second tier Cultural Leonesa after last week's 5-0 Spanish Supercup thrashing raised serious questions over the fitness and commitment of the side that won the Copa in 2024 and that finished last season fourth in La Liga.

The Basque side was very poor in Jeddah against Barcelona and needs to react to avoid talk of crisis at the club.

Tuesday's visit to second tier Cultural sees coach Ernesto Valverde come up against home coach Jose Angel 'Cuco' Ziganda, who played alongside him in the Athletic attack in the early and mid-1990's.

Ziganda had a successful spell as Athletic's B-team coach and a disappointing season with the first team after Valverde ended his second spell to join FC Barcelona, but he has realized an upturn in Cultural's fortunes since taking over earlier this season.

Atletico Madrid travels to play second division promotion-chaser Deportivo la Coruna after its Supercup semifinal defeat to Real Madrid last Thursday, in a game Diego Simeone's side would have won with better finishing.

A lot of attention will be on whether Italian striker Giacomo Raspadori will be in the Atletico side with the player reported to be on the verge of a move back to Italy after finding his opportunities limited with Atletico.

Tuesday's third match is a virtual derby between Real Sociedad and Osasuna, which is one of three all-top-flight ties in the round.

Real Sociedad looks to have reacted positively to the arrival of Pellegrino Matarazzo as first team coach, as shown by its battling 2-1 win away to Getafe last Friday.

Osasuna's major problem this season is its dreadful away form with eight defeats and just two draws from 10 away matches in La Liga this season and its only two away wins coming against lower division rivals in the Copa del Rey.

With a vital home game against Oviedo at the weekend, Osasuna coach Alessio Lisci is expected to make a lot of changes to his starting 11, and while Matarazzo will also rotate his squad and try to repeat the 3-1 win in Osasuna's El Sadar ground earlier this season.

Real Madrid visits Albacete on Wednesday, while newly crowned Supercup winner, FC Barcelona visits second division leader, Racing Santander on Thursday. ■