News Archive

Copa del Rey - fourth round

The big surprise of the round came on Thursday, second division Mirandés knocking out one of the big favourites, Sevilla. The Burgos province based side have a long history in the cup, having reached the quarter finals twice before in recent years, and two first half goals by Matheus and a third by Alvaro Rey put the result beyond doubt before Nolito got a late consolation for the Andalusians. Barcelona though made sure of their spot in the last eight after a 5-0 victory over Leganés earlier in the evening. Griezmann opened the scoring in only the fourth minute and Lenglet headed a second a few minutes later, and after the restart Messi, Arthur, and Messi again completed the “manita”. (30.01.20)

No problems for Real Madrid on Wednesday, Zidane’s side cruising through 0-4 against Zaragoza. Varane and Lucas Vázquez put them two up at the break, and Vinicius and Benzema added two more for the final result. The two second division B teams are both out, although they put up a good fight, Cultural Leonesa losing 2-4 in the penalty shoot-out (with two saves from Jaume) after their tie against Valencia ended 0-0, and Badajoz coming back twice to take Granada into extra time before a goal by Carlos Fernández made it 2-3 to the Andalusians (the third time in a row they have won in time added on). Elsewhere Villarreal beat Rayo Vallecano 0-2 with late strikes by Fer Niño and Cazorla, and Real Sociedad won 3-1 against neighbours Osasuna in the all first division tie, with Isak in particular scoring twice for the San Sebastian based side. (29.01.20)

As usual, most rounds of the Spanish cup will be taking place in January and February, with the round of 16 played out midweek. Athletic Bilbao were the first team into the quarter finals after beating Tenerife on Tuesday, although for the second time in a row they had to resort to the penalty shoot-out. The Basque team went behind three times, but came back each time to make it 3-3, and in the shoot-out, Ezkieta (who came on in the second minute after Herrerín was sent off) made an important save to take his side through. (28.01.20)