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Copa del Rey

Quarter finals, second leg

The other three quarter finals took place on Thursday, with Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao and Espanyol going through to the final four. Villarreal were first up, and they qualified for the semi-finals for the first time in their history after beating Getafe 0-1 in their second leg match. Once again Quique Sánchez Flores put out a much changed side, with four youngsters in the starting line up. Even so however they had the better of the opening minutes, Asenjo saving an Alex Felip header following a corner, and Pedro León shooting wide, and Hinestroza hit the bar with a cross-come-shot soon after the restart. Moi Gómez brought a good save out of Jonathan though, and with ten minutes to go Gerard Moreno latched on to a loose ball after Cheryshev and Astray battled for a Moi Gómez centre to round the keeper and score. It was Villarreal’s eighteenth game in a row without defeat, and their rivals in the semi-finals will be Barcelona, who they also meet in the league this weekend.

Athletic Bilbao are experienced cup veterans though, winning the title no less than 23 times, and they made it through again after a 1-0 victory over Málaga. This was the third meeting between the two sides in eight days, the first leg ending 0-0 and the weekend league match finishing 1-1, and the rain and heavy wind made play difficult. A long free kick from Antunes swirled just over Herrerín’s bar early on, but Ochoa had to be at his best to save from Muniain, and Susaeta had a strike ruled out for offside shortly before the break. Just three minutes into the second half though Athletic took the lead on a quick counter-attack following a Málaga free kick, Susaeta crossing in for Aduríz to beat the Mexican keeper. Javi Guerra got the ball in the net soon afterwards only for the referee to rule it out for the positional offside of Juanmi, but Laporte, San José and De Marcos could all have extended the lead later on.

Espanyol will be the Basque side’s opponents after they won through 3-2 on aggregate against Sevilla, despite losing 1-0 in the return game in the Sánchez Pizjuán stadium. Bacca’s last minute away goal a week ago gave the Andalusians hope of overturning the tie, but they were unlucky not to go further behind when Arbilla’s early free kick hit the crossbar. Bacca went close at the other end, and before the break Sergio García almost caught out Beto with a chip from outside of the area. After the restart Pau López had to save from Banega, and Gameiro, Deulofeu and Bacca all failed to find the target before Diogo Figueiras finally beat the keeper with a long shot into the far top corner of the net. However the game finished a couple of minutes later, and Espanyol had their revenge for that 2007 UEFA cup final in Glasgow, where the Catalans lost to their hosts in the penalty shoot out. (29.01.15)

Barcelona are the first team through to the semi-finals after they beat Atlético Madrid 2-3 on Wednesday night. Most of the action came in the first half, Fernando Torres cancelling out Barça’s first leg lead with less than a minute on the clock after picking up a long ball from Siqueira and firing a low shot past Ter Stegen. Neymar equalized eight minutes later after Messi and Luis Suárez combined to set him up, and the Brazilian forward got the ball in the net a few minutes later only to be pulled up by referee Gil Manzano for a questionable offside. But with half an hour gone Raúl García restored the lead with a hotly disputed penalty after Mascherano blocked Juanfran on the edge of the area, the referee waving away claims that the action had taken place outside of the area. Luis Suárez had a penalty appeal of his own turned down, but soon afterwards Miranda turned the ball into his own net after Busquets headed on a Rakitic corner to make it all square once again. Two minutes later Jordi Alba blocked Griezmann’s shot with his arm inside the Barça area, and with the Atleti players still protesting play went up the other end, Alba hooking Messi’s centre back across goal for Neymar to run the ball into the net.

By then tempers were fraying, with angry clashes between players and officials as they left the pitch at half time, and when they returned they were missing Gabi, who had been given a second booking in the tunnel for arguing with the referee. Needing three goals and with a man short, Simeone just about gave up, and other than a fierce shot from substitute Cani which Ter Stegen kept out they never looked like recovering. Oblak prevented Messi, Iniesta and Pedro from doing further damage, but the locals ended with nine men after Mario Suárez was also sent off for a second bookable offence, and it could have been worse if the referee had not taken a benevolent view when Turan threw his boot at a linesman in frustration. (28.01.15)