Real Madrid's treble dreams often end in the Copa del Rey - this season is their best shot

At face value, Thursday's hostile Copa del Rey tie — when Real Madrid visit San Mames to face Athletic Bilbao (streaming live on ESPN+, 3:30 p.m. ET) — is just another episode in Los Blancos' puzzling, underwhelming, love-hate affair with Spain's storied cup competition.

Viewed at a distance, Madrid's record of having won the Copa del Rey twice in the past 28 years makes absolutely no sense at all. They've often been domestically dominant across that time, boasting squads jam-packed with excellent players and, worst of all, they've had to suffer their most bitter rivals, Barcelona, make the competition their personal fiefdom over that quarter-century — something that must chafe Madridistas badly. Thus it's a distinct oddity that since Madrid beat Zaragoza 2-0 in the 1993 final, Zaragoza, who have been adrift in the second division for the last nine seasons, have lifted the trophy three times, third-division Deportivo La Coruna have done it twice and so have Espanyol: in short, all three are modest outfits who've either equalled or beaten Los Blancos' Copa performance from then till now. (Barca have won it nine times.)

If Madrid are the club to make your heart beat madly, then there's perhaps some comfort in the fact that not only was Carlo Ancelotti the last Bernabeu coach to conquer this competition, doing it in the most dramatic fashion thanks to Gareth Bale's epoch-marking goal against Barcelona in the 2014 final, but the Italian is once again taking the task of winning this season's version extremely seriously.

Before every Cup game so far (Alcoyano and Elche away) Ancelotti's infamous caterpillar-like eyebrow has made a break for freedom, up and over his forehead, when asked if he's going to turn out a first-choice