Copa del Rey

Fifth round, second leg

Defending champions Barcelona cruised through to the next round after a convincing 5-0 win against Celta on Thursday. The 1-1 scoreline from the first leg left the tie in doubt, but within half an hour Valverde’s side were four up, Messi latching on to two assists in as many minutes from Jordi Alba to open the scoring, and then sliding through a pinpoint pass for Alba to make it three. Soon afterwards Luis Suárez intercepted a bad back pass by Sisto to score the fourth, and Rakitic headed the fifth from Dembélé’s corner with three minutes to go. Sevilla will also be in Friday’s draw after they knocked out neighbours Cádiz, Ben Yedder adding to the two goal lead from the first leg after Yañez saved from Correa, and Correa himself headed a second from a second half corner before Alvaro García got a late consolation for the second division side. Meanwhile Espanyol overcame a 1-2 first leg defeat, a 0-2 victory at Levante taking the Catalans into the last eight. Both goals came in the first half, Baptistao running on to a long pass from Gerard Moreno to beat Raúl Fernández on the quarter hour mark, and Moreno himself getting the second after the local defence failed to clear a Didac Vila cross some twenty minutes later. The locals could have forced extra time though had Jason not headed against the bar after the interval. (11.01.18)

Real Madrid also made it through fairly easily to the last eight, although once again it was a disappointing performance as they could only draw 2-2 at home to second division Numancia. Three up from the first leg, Zidane once again put out his “B” side, and Lucas Vázquez gave them an early lead with a header from a Dani Carvajal centre. Substitute Guillermo made it all square though from a Marc Mateu cross just before the break, and although Vázquez restored the lead after Borja Mayoral headed back a Marco Asensio centre, Guillermo beat Kiko Casilla with a late header to earn a respectable draw for the visitors. Earlier in the evening last season’s runners-up Alavés secured their place in the next round with a 2-0 win against regional side Formentera, B team striker Demirovic getting his third goal in the tie after Rubén Sobrino set him up soon after the restart, and Alfonso Pedraza rounding things off in injury time. Villarreal are out though despite winning 2-1 against Leganés, the 1-0 result from the first leg taking the Madrid based side through to the quarter finals for the first time in their history. El Zhar scored the deciding away goal after running on to a long pass from Naranjo on the half hour mark, but Raba equalised soon after the restart. Champagne though made a string of saves, and a late strike by Cheryshev following good work by Samu Castillejo left the locals a goal short. (10.01.18)

Atlético Madrid and Valencia are the first two sides to classify for the quarter finals of the cup after both won through their second leg ties on Tuesday evening. Atlético had no problems seeing off regional second division side Lleida Esportiu, a 3-0 win adding to the 0-4 scoreline from a week ago. The goals though didn’t come until after the break, Diego Costa setting up Carrasco for the opener, Gameiro adding the second following a good run by Correa, and new boy Vitolo picking up a long pass from Fernando Torres to open his account for the Colchoneros. Valencia came in to their game against Las Palmas later in the evening tied at one all, but in the end a 4-0 victory saw them through with room to spare. Marcelino gave a first start to new signing Vietto, and he was the star of the night with a hat-trick, the first after Raúl Lizoain pushed out a header from Zaza on the half hour mark. Soon after the restart Vietto made it two from a Pereira assist, and Maksimovic fired home a third before Vietto completed the scoring with a shot from just over the halfway line which caught the keeper out of position. (09.01.18)