Copa del Rey

Fourth round, first leg

A much changed Real Madrid side beat second division B neighbours Fuenlabrada in their Fernando Torres stadium 0-2 on Thursday, although it took a couple of hotly disputed penalties for them to do so. Marco Asensio converted the first with just over an hour gone after Fran García had pulled down Achraf on the edge of the area, and Lucas Vázquez the second with ten minutes to go after Candela was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Theo Hernández. Madrid also ended with ten men after debutant Jesús Vallejo was sent off for a hard tackle in the final minutes. Otherwise there were no real surprises, although it took a great performance by keeper Diego López for Espanyol to come out unscathed in a 0-0 draw at Tenerife, the match kicking off half an hour late due to a floodlight failure.

Real Sociedad beat Lleida Esportiu 0-1 thanks to an impressive strike from outside of the area by Canales on the half hour mark, and Levante won 0-2 at Girona, Boateng opening the scoring shortly before the interval, and Doukour’e heading the second from a corner a quarter of an hour in to the second half. Finally Las Palmas thrashed managerless Deportivo 1-4, Momo putting the Canary Islanders two up in the first twenty minutes. Juanfran was sent off for a second bookable offence soon afterwards, and although Lucas Pérez headed one back, two more goals from Calleri in the last minutes wrapped things up. (26.10.17)

The lower ranked teams did better on Wednesday, second division B side Elche in particular drawing 1-1 with Atlético Madrid. Thomas headed the visitors in front with just over a quarter of an hour gone, but Lolo Plá won a penalty off Lucas Hernández which he himself converted early on in the second half, and only a couple of good saves by Moyà prevented the locals from a win. Athletic Bilbao were also held to a 1-1 draw at Formentera, Liñán putting the Balearic Islanders ahead following a long free kick on the hour mark, and Raúl García heading the equaliser from Saborit’s centre just three minutes later.

The biggest surprise though was Villarreal’s 1-0 defeat at Ponferradina, Cidoncha getting the only goal with a direct free kick shortly before the break to hand coach Javi Calleja his first defeat since taking over. Elsewhere Leganés beat Valladolid 1-2, Beauvue getting a late winner after Cotán had cancelled out Diego Rico’s opener, and Celta won by the same scoreline at Eibar, Sergi Enrich making it all square after Cabral had headed the Galicians in to a fourth minute lead, and Guidetti heading in a Hjulsager cross on the stroke of half time to give the visitors the advantage for the return game. (25.10.17)

First division sides enter the cup this week, with seven of them kicking off their first leg ties on Tuesday night. As always, the lower ranked survivors from the previous rounds were paired against the seven teams playing in Europe this year, with Real Murcia and Cartagena both losing 0-3 to Barcelona and Sevilla respectively. Valverde gave a run out to his lesser used players in the Condomina stadium, but Alcácer headed the opener on the stroke of half time, and after the restart Deulofeu and B team forward José Arnáiz added two more. Earlier in the evening Sevilla had no problems at Cartagena, Sarabia and Correa putting them two up at the break, and half time substitute Muriel adding a third early on in the second half.

The only surprise of the day (if indeed it was), was Málaga’s 2-1 defeat at Numancia. Recio put the visitors ahead with a well struck free kick in the twentieth minute, but injury time goals by Nacho and Escassi put more pressure on the much questioned Michel. Valencia had to resort to their high powered substitutes before beating Zaragoza 0-2, Rodrigo heading the first with ten minutes to go, and Dani Parejo converting a last minute penalty after Delmás fouled Nacho Gil in the area. Two goals by Sergio Léon early in the first and second halves gave Betis a 1-2 win at neighbours Cádiz, Alex Fernández getting one back in-between. And Alavés won 0-1 at Getafe in the only tie on Tuesday between first division sides, Christian Santos heading in Medrán’s free kick near the end to give last year’s losing finalists the advantage going in to next month’s second leg. (24.10.17)