Spanish Cup - round 1

The four matches postponed from last month's first round took place today, with first division clubs all visiting teams from the regionalised second division B . Without doubt the big surprise was the elimination of Barcelona at the hands of their neighbours Figueres, who play in the same division as Barça's B team. With a side containing ten of their first squad, the Catalan giants were held to a scoreless ninety minutes, and a goal from Kali Garrido in the first minute of extra time was enough to delight the 9,000 local fans who packed the stadium. Coming three days after their defeat at Real Madrid, the players can expect a hot reception from fans in the Nou Camp next Sunday.

Deportivo La Coruña didn't get off to a good start either, going behind to Marino before coming back to win 1-4. Temporary stands were put up in the tiny stadium in Luanco, and the 5,500 crowd was almost twice the population of the Asturian town. The turning point was the sending off of Marino's Luis with less than half an hour gone after Ramón had given them the lead, and Depor took advantage to score three times in a seven minute period before the break through César, Pandiani and Víctor. Pandiani added a fourth later in the game after good work by Djalminha.

The other two games ended the same way, with last minute goals securing 1-2 victories for the first division sides. Alavés took no chances having been knocked out in the first round three years in a row, and Mané picked a virtually full strength side. Even so they only just scraped through against a battling Compostela, with a last minute strike from substitute Rubén Navarro. Iván Alonso had given them the lead early on, but Rodri cancelled it out later in the first half.

Osasuna's manager Miguel Angel Lotina took the opposite approach, only including Rivero from his first choice line up in the match against Gramanet and giving a chance to players who have not appeared much. They were met by a hostile reception from the home fans as they had insisted on not playing on Gramanet's artificial pitch, and the game was played down the road at Espanyol's training ground. Even so the home side took the lead through Raúl (not the famous one), with Palacios equalising just before the interval. A last minute goal by Sabino gave the first division side victory just as it looked as if they would be facing extra time. (07.11.01).