Having been the cup underdog in Spain, ANDONI Iraola provided some insight into what Leicester City could be thinking before to their trip to Vitality Stadium.
As a manager, Iraola twice made it to the Copa del Rey semifinals, most famously in 2020 with second-tier Mirandes.
After eliminating La Liga teams Celta Vigo, Sevilla, and Villarreal en route, they were defeated 3-1 over two legs by Real Sociedad, with Martin Odegaard among the scoring.
Iraola hopes to lead the Cherries into the FA Cup quarterfinals tonight, becoming just the third manager to do it following Freddie Cox and Jonathan Woodgate.
Leicester, who currently lead the Championship standings, stand in their way and will be considered outsiders to advance.
Iraola told the Daily Echo that he had been in the position of coaching second division teams in Spain, such as Mirandes and Rayo Vallecano, and that having high hopes for the cup is a really good opportunity. When asked what mindset the second tier side is likely to have, given that promotion is their main goal of the season, Iraola replied.
“Now I am on the other side and I hope we can beat them.
“You have not a lot to lose. Even if they can, like we are going to do, make some changes to their starting XI, like they did against Liverpool and Birmingham the other day, they made three changes at half-time and put their best players on for sure, to try to go to the next round.
“Now we are talking about important rounds, not the first or second round.
“After (today), only eight teams will be remaining, so everyone will want to go through.”
Cherries have knocked out Queens Park Rangers and Swansea City to reach this stage, while Leicester have also beaten two Championship clubs, in Millwall and Birmingham City.
The Foxes are managed by Enzo Maresca. The Italian faced Iraola on multiple occasions in La Liga as a player, when Iraola featured for Athletic Bilbao and Maresca turned out for Sevilla and then Malaga.
Recalling those contests, Iraola said: “We played against each other a lot of times, for sure.
“He was a top player, very good. A very complete midfielder.
“Almost everywhere he played. He came for the build-up and then he was also very good at arriving and finishing.
“Now we will face him in different times.”
