What comes to mind when you think of Don Quixote de la Mancha?
The character created by author Miguel de Cervantes fought windmills, believing they were giants. He is a legendary figure in world literature and the novel of the same name, first published in 1605, remains an iconic portrait of Spain.
More than 400 years after that story began ‘somewhere in La Mancha’, as the book’s opening line goes, a football team from that central region of the country are aiming for more giant-killing of their own.
Second-division Albacete defeated Real Madrid last month in the Copa del Rey round of 16 in Alvaro Arbeloa’s first match in charge after replacing the sacked Xabi Alonso. Tonight (Tuesday), they host Barcelona in the quarter-finals — aiming to become the first side from ‘Segunda’ to beat both Clasico giants in the same edition of the competition.
The Athletic spent a day behind the scenes with the players, head coach and general manager to understand what makes Albacete different — and whether they really could cut Barca down to size.
Castilla-La Mancha is the country’s third-largest region by square kilometre but, apart from cities such as Toledo and Cuenca, it is not exactly touristy. Its provinces, including Albacete, form part of what is known as ’empty Spain’, given their inhabitants often move from the countryside to the big cities for work. Albacete is around 140 miles (225km) south-east of Madrid and is home to around 175,000 people.
Albacete’s training ground — a facility expected to serve as a base camp for a national team during the 2030 World Cup that will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco — is surrounded by the fields of wheat, vines and olive trees that characterise the region. The people there are also distinct.
“You’ll soon realise that people from Albacete are easy to describe,” Victor Varela, the chief executive since 2017, tells The Athletic. “When I’d only been here a few months, I said to a friend, ‘I haven’t met anyone devious yet, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m not able to understand how people are here.’ The reality is that they’re very honest and open.”
That harmony is evident when you enter the dressing room. Contrary to many squads in professional football, the players are close and never miss an opportunity to crack a joke.
Everything changed for them on January 15, when a side who were then battling relegation from the second tier beat 15-time European champions Real Madrid 3-2 at home.
Albacete took the lead twice that night, but Arbeloa’s team pegged them back both times, including in the 91st minute — before Jefte Betancor, a forward on loan from Olympiacos who has played in Romania, Austria and Cyprus, scored his second goal of the game in the 94th minute to send the 17,500-capacity Carlos Belmonte stadium wild.
Jefte Bentancor, second left, sends the Albacete stadium into raptures (Diego Souto/Getty Images)
It led to a huge party on the streets of Albacete, despite it being a Wednesday. The result arguably meant the most to Jesus Vallejo, a centre-back who spent 10 years at Madrid before joining Albacete last summer. The 29-year-old was out injured for the tie against his former employers but threw himself to the ground after the final whistle, crying inconsolably.
“It was a rush of uncontrollable emotions,” Vallejo says. “The first thing was a bit of helplessness at not being able to help the team. Then pride because my team-mates did a spectacular job. Those two emotions clashed. Then there was also the feeling of belonging that we have here in Albacete, which is very strong. All of that mixed together in a cocktail shaker.”
Las lágrimas de Jesús Vallejo. Esta es una de las imágenes del día.
📺 @La1_tve #CopaDelReyMapfre | #LaCopaMola🏆 pic.twitter.com/PCuVj4dPBO
— RFEF (@rfef) January 14, 2026
By contrast, head coach Alberto Gonzalez appeared totally calm and in control on the touchline.
“Many people tell me that I seem emotionless because I don’t show much change in mood, but I feel that the most beautiful thing that has happened to me these days has been the messages from people, the pride they felt (following the Madrid game),” says the 46-year-old, who took his first management job with Atletico Yunquera, in the eighth tier of Spanish football, aged 23 in 2002.
“We read some of them to the players so they would be aware. A teacher told us that they had played the Albacete anthem at school. Another friend gave me a book about the first promotion (to the top division in the early 1990s) and they were reminiscing about the past, which was very nice.”
Founded in 1939, Albacete were first promoted to La Liga in 1991 and spent five consecutive seasons there. They earned the nickname ‘Queso Mecanico’ (The Clockwork Cheese) at that time, a reference to the legendary ‘Clockwork Orange’ Netherlands team led by Johan Cruyff in the 1970s and the region’s traditional Manchego cheese.
Besides Cruyff, there is another link to Barcelona: their legendary midfielder Andres Iniesta started his youth career with Albacete before moving on to La Masia, Barca’s famed academy.
Albacete were relegated from the top flight in 1996, before returning for two more seasons from 2003-05. Since then, they have spent their time bobbing between the second and third tiers, while facing bankruptcy proceedings in 2010 due to debts and unpaid bills.
In 2017, they were taken over by new owners. There was initial scepticism over the Venezuelan-Lebanese fund Skyline, but CEO Varela says it has brought stability.
“We have gone from the 6,500 members when we arrived to 12,000 now,” he says. “The other day (against Real Madrid), the big fear was that there would be a lot of people who we know are from here and could support Madrid, but that day they went with Albacete and showed that it (the club) continues to be a source of pride for the city.”
Andres Iniesta, seen here playing for Barcelona against Albacete, began his career with the latter as a locally-born youngster (Luis Bagu/Getty Images)
Albacete have won over fans with their fighting spirit in recent years.
In 2022, they achieved promotion to the second division by rallying from a goal down after 80 minutes to beat hosts Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 in extra time of the play-off final. They produced another comeback to see off La Liga side Celta Vigo on penalties in this season’s Copa del Rey round of 32, Vallejo forcing extra time with a 93rd-minute equaliser.
But everyone knows the real turning point was against Madrid.
Since then, Gonzalez’s side have not lost in the league, winning three in a row, and are now eight points clear of the relegation zone and only five short of the promotion play-offs.
Some second-tier teams might baulk at facing Spanish champions Barcelona. Not Albacete, despite having a league-imposed salary limit of €8.5million (£7.3m; $10m) — roughly 90 times smaller than Madrid’s figure of €761m and 40 times smaller than Barca’s €351m. Albacete make around €2.5m per year from season-ticket sales, but these two home matches against Madrid and Barca are expected to bring in another €2m.
“I’ve been through the cup many times, and the fact that we’re playing at home and it’s a one-off match does give us a slight advantage,” says goalkeeper Raul Lizoain, who reached the Copa semi-finals with another second-division side, Mirandes, in 2020. The 35-year-old is not Albacete’s regular No 1 but has been captaining them in their cup campaign.
“We’re talking about the best in the world. They have more chances, but sometimes you can achieve things with enthusiasm. Why not again?”
🗣️ “Jamás en la historia el Albacete le ha ganado al Real Madrid. ¿Por qué? Porque ese día está reservado para hoy”.
El vestuario del @AlbaceteBPSAD quiere hacer historia.
📺 @La1_tve#CopaDelReyMapfre | #LaCopaMola🏆 pic.twitter.com/sMTWRVwnMi
— RFEF (@rfef) January 14, 2026
“I’ve received lots of messages asking why, if we beat Madrid, we can’t beat Barcelona,” adds 23-year-old right-back Lorenzo Aguado, who kept Vinicius Junior quiet, having been in Madrid’s academy setup until last summer.
Albacete have had only two days — rather than the three before the Madrid game — to prepare after beating Real Zaragoza 2-0 on Saturday but they have been able to spend plenty of time analysing their opponents.
“We must avoid individual duels, because few of our players can stop them individually,” says Gonzalez, as he watches training. “I believe that this type of player must be stopped together, with good synchronisation and organisation. We will have to work with more of a focus on analysis and videos because there will be no days for physical training, and it will reinforce what we do.”
Gonzalez coached Barcelona midfielder Fermin Lopez when he played on loan at third-division Linares in the 2022-23 season and says he has exchanged messages with the 22-year-old.
“Positionally, they are very good,” says Vallejo. “Pedri is a significant loss for them (the Spain midfielder is out with a hamstring injury) because he is one of those who controls the tempo of the game, who shields the ball, who accelerates and decelerates the play.
“The Madrid players are more anarchic, in the sense that they are more unpredictable. If you notice, (Kylian) Mbappe plays as a No 9, but he drifts out wide to the left. He links up a lot with Vinicius Jr. Madrid occupy less space in the shooting areas, and Barca are more structured.”
Goalkeeper Raul Lizoain is well aware of the threat posed by Barcelona’s front line (Albacete BP; design by Will Tullos)
In the same vein, Lizoain is well aware of the dangers Barcelona’s forwards pose, with Hansi Flick able to choose from Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres (Raphinha will miss the tie with a minor injury to his right leg). Only Bayern Munich have scored more than Barca’s 60 goals across Europe’s top five leagues this season.
“Lewandowski has a lot of qualities. He’s a beast, one of the best in the world at finishing,” the goalkeeper says. “Maybe I can anticipate the aerial balls where he tends to be very powerful. In second-division matches, I usually give my defenders more freedom, but against a player like that, I’m going to give them more orders on the front line, I’m going to be more attentive.
“In Lamine’s case, with his personality, he’s a player who’s ahead of everyone with the passes he threads through, so I will try to anticipate those. Under normal conditions, it’s difficult for forwards to do that, but at these levels…”
After training, the players go to the canteen to eat together — although there is no sign of any Manchego. When The Athletic says goodbye to them, there are big smiles on their faces.
Those in the club’s offices have also been busy.
Since beating Madrid three weeks ago, Albacete’s social media following has grown by more than 170,000. Staff say they have had to work extra hours to manage the massive demand for tickets for the Barcelona tie, along with interest from media outlets wanting to cover the game and companies keen to advertise at the Carlos Belmonte.
“What I want is for people to enjoy it, but these are matches that I don’t enjoy at all because they involve a tremendous amount of responsibility in terms of everything that goes into organising,” Varela says. “That said, for us it is an important financial incentive. I can put everything from that match towards signing a player directly. In other words, it’s going to be like an injection into our veins.”
On the pitch, nobody wants the financial gap between the clubs to be an excuse.
Who knows? Perhaps Albacete could even emulate Don Quixote.
“It’s good to draw on that heroism, that epic spirit,” says Vallejo. “Like the winning goal against Real Madrid. To beat Barca, we need something like that.”
