Second round

Matches played on 10th November

Another night of surprises in the second round of the cup, with seven more first division sides falling against lower division opposition, and others needing extra time and penalties to get through.

The biggest scalp of the night was without doubt off-form Deportivo La Coruña, who lost 1-0 at Elche, ex Rayo Vallecano striker Peragón getting the only goal of the game in the tenth minute after Nino set him up. Despite having eight players missing through injury, Irureta only made two changes from the line up which started at Barcelona. But they were unable to find the rout to goal, local keeper Caballero making vital saves from Diego Tristán and Sergio near the end of the match as the Galicians threw everything forward.

Real Madrid only just made it into the third round, Solari striking the winner following a short free kick in the last minute of extra time to beat Tenerife 1-2. Local keeper Keleman was both hero and villain in the first half, saving well from Owen, giving away a silly penalty for a foul on Borja and then stopping the resulting spot kick from Morientes. The Canary Islanders went ahead three minutes before the break, Fagiani's free kick taking a deflection off Cristo Marrero (to whom the referee eventually awarded the goal), but before the half time whistle Solari equalised, again from a free kick. And the Argentine midfielder popped up again at the end to take his side through against a bogey team who cost them two leg titles in a row in the early nineties.

No less than four teams from the top flight lost to second division B clubs, including Real Sociedad. who were beaten 4-3 on penalties by Mirandés after drawing their match 0-0 in a heavy rainstorm which made conditions virtually unplayable. Local goalkeeper Treviño made an important save from half time substitute Kovacevic at the end of normal time and De Paula put another effort wide just before. And in the end Treviño was the hero of the night, saving spot kicks from Kovacevic, Mikel Alonso and De Paula in the shoot out.

Barcelona's conquerors Gramanet were at it again, this time coming from a goal down to win 2-1 against another side who wear "Blaugrana", Bernd Schuster's Levante. Jofre took advantage of slack defending to put the first division team ahead in the sixth minute, and by the break they appeared to be cruising. But the Santa Coloma based side came out strongly after the break, Morillo having a goal disallowed for a dubious offside before Alexis put through his own net to level the scores. Miki gave the home side the lead a quarter of an hour from the end, and Levante ended with ten men after Jofre was shown a red card late on.

The game was played on the Gramanet's artificial pitch, as was the tie at Lanzarote, where the Canary Islanders also ran out 2-1 winners over Héctor Cúper's Mallorca. Maciot got both goals for the home team, the first from a first half free kick and the second after a defensive mistake after the restart, to put them two up. Local defender Raúl was sent off soon after the second goal, but although Pereyra pulled one back and Carmona and Luis García both hit the woodwork, the second division B side held on to make it through to the last 16 for the first time in their history.

There was a sensational match at Lorca, where Málaga were two goals up and cruising before having two men sent off and losing the tie 5-2 in extra time. Juan Rodríguez put Gregorio Manzano's side ahead early on, and when Geijo made it two on the hour mark it appeared to be all over. But Sergio Francisco pulled one back soon afterwards, and César Navas (for a second booking) and Amoroso (straight red) were sent off in the last ten minutes. In the last minute of injury time Segio Francisco equalised after Xavi Moro had hit the post, and Lorca went on to win in extra time with two goals from ex Barcelona B striker Perona and another in the last minute by Heugun.

Racing Santander took an early lead at Valladolid, but they lost 2-1 after the locals scored twice in three minutes after the break. Oriol put the Cantabrians ahead following a corner in the eleventh minute, and Lledó had to stop Javi Guerrero and Márques from extending the lead before the interval. But Sousa made it all square with a thunderous shot from 40 yards out only four minutes after the restart, and half time substitute Aduriz scored a magnificent second from an impossibly tight angle soon afterwards.

Albacete are also out after losing 1-0 at Recreativo, Moreno getting the only goal in extra time. The second division side were the better throughout, with Uche hitting the bar early on and Gaspercic making several vital saves from Manu Del Moral and from Viqueira. The Belgian keeper was finally beaten though by a centre-come-shot from the midfielder which caught him off his line.

Bottom club Numancia did scrape through though, beating their second division counterparts Córdoba 3-4 in the penalty shoot out after a 1-1 draw. The home side dominated the first half, and Alvaro Nuñez had to be at his best to save from Pulpo González. Pulpo and Montenegro combined to set up Txiki for the opening goal after the restart, and Montenegro could have made it two when his free kick hit the bar. But Carlos Merino equalised five minutes from the end, and Nuñez saved penalty kicks from Villa and Sarmiento in the shoot out to give caretaker manager Máximo Hernández a good start.

The two remaining Basque first division sides needed extra time to win their respective fixtures against second division B teams, Athletic Bilbao beating Cultural Leonesa 1-2 thanks to a late goal from Ezquerro. Valverde's side took the lead in controversial circumstances five minutes before the break, the local players asking for the ball to be put out of play for the injured Pepin to be attended to, but the visitors carrying on for Ezquerro and Urzaiz to set up Orbaiz to score. Paulino equalised after the break to take the game into extra time, but Etxeberría found Ezquerro ten minutes from the end for him to strike the winner past Raúl Moreno.

Osasuna put an end to their run of three defeats in a row, beating second division B side Girona 0-1 in extra time. It was an evenly fought match though, with chances for both sides, Pablo and Morales going closest for the locals and Delporte and Webó replying for the visitors. The Catalans felt hard done by when referee Daudén Ibáñez turned down an appeal for a penalty on Caballero late in the second half, and then awarded one to Valdo in a similar incident in the first half of extra time which Muñoz converted. A few minutes later Girona were left with ten men when Clotet was sent off.

Getafe also had to wait until extra time to win through 1-2 against Pontevedra after the first ninety minutes ended without goals. Only a couple of efforts from Yordi had troubled either keeper before the referee added on an extra 30 minutes, but Nano put the Madrid based side ahead from Craioveanu's free kick eight minutes after the restart. Riki added a second a few minutes later, and a late strike by Charles for the Galicians was scant consolation.

The two Sevilla based sides were in fact the only ones from the top flight to win their ties in the regulatory ninety minutes. Betis manager Serra Ferrer put out a strong side against a Cádiz packed with reserves, but they struggled at times before finally running out 0-2 winners. Oliveira opened the scoring on the half hour mark with an individualist goal, his fourth of the season, but the second goal didn't come until the fourth minute of injury time, when Cañas picked up a pass from Edu to beat Navas.

Sevilla also made it through with a relatively comfortable 1-2 victory over Ciudad Murcia. Joaquín Caparrós's side took the lead with only twenty seconds on the clock, Carlitos beating Miki with a shot on the turn. Godina hit the post though and Notario had to make a couple of saves from Aguilar before the locals were left with ten men when Falcón was shown a straight red with twenty minutes to go. The visitors took advantage to go further ahead when Antonio latched on to a pass from Fernando Sales to score, but a late goal from Ubeda set up a nervous last few moments.

There was one all second division game as well, Lleida eventually running out 2-4 winners on penalties against Terrassa after the match ended 2-2. Arnal put the visitors ahead in the first half and they seemed to be on the way to victory when Abraham equalised in the last minute. Monty gave the hosts the lead in extra time, but Nakor levelled the scores again five minutes from the end, and Juanele and Rodri both missed their spot kicks to take Lleida through in the shoot out. Both sides meet again in the league at the same venue this weekend. (10.11.04)

Match played on 11th November

Atlético Madrid are the eighth side from the first division to qualify for the third round after a 0-1 win over Gimnastic Tarragona in the last match on Thursday evening. It could well have been another upset though, the Catalans creating several chances and taking the match into extra time before García Calvo struck the winner from the edge of the area following Jorge's set-piece free kick. The goal caused some controversy as the Nàstic players thought the referee should have blown his whistle earlier for a change of ends, and local manager Luis César Sampedro was shown a red card in the ensuing fracas.

At the end of the day then, only eight first division sides made it through to the third round, together with four from the second division A and four from the second division B. The competition takes a break now until the beginning of the new year, with ties from the third round onwards played over two legs. Teams competing in Europe will be seeded, which in effect will mean Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla will not meet each other, but any other combination will be possible. The date for the draw has not yet been fixed, and with presidential elections due at the RFEF at the end of the month, the decision may not take place until the beginning of December. (11.11.04)