Athletic Bilbao oust holders Barcelona from Copa del Rey in extra-time thriller

Holders Barcelona were knocked out of the Copa del Rey after suffering a 3-2 defeat in extra-time at Athletic Bilbao in the last 16 on Thursday.

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Athletic dominated a thrilling match and went ahead early thanks to a beautiful cross-shot from Iker Muniain who curled the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen into the top corner.

Former Manchester City forward Ferran Torres equalised for Barca with a brilliant right-foot strike from the edge of the area, his first goal for the club.

Inigo Martinez put Athletic back in front after 86 minutes, winning a challenge against Gerard Pique to score, but Pedri netted a fine goal in stoppage time to send the game into extra-time.

Juan Lazkano/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

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Man-of-the-match Muniain scored the winner with a penalty after the video assistant referee spotted a handball from Jordi Alba inside the area.

Athletic joined Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Valencia, Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano, Mallorca and Cadiz in the quarter-finals. The draw will take place on Friday.

Barcelona's disappointing campaign took another turn for the worse.

Eliminated at the Champions League group stage, they lost to Bilbao in a repeat of last year's final which they won 4-0 and two of their most promising players, Ansu Fati and Pedri, were substituted due to injury.

Asked if their elimination from the competition is a failure, Xavi said: "I don't like the word failure because we tried. But if we have failed here then let it be something to learn from ... we learn from our mistakes and try again."

"We have two battles left: Europa League and LaLiga. We fought until the end but in many moments Athletic bettered us with intensity, they were better than us, have to congratulate them. San Mames [is a tough place to play], especially with this Athletic team and this coach. They're a tough opponent."