Copa del Rey

fourth round, second leg

Only one side from the lower divisions made it through to the last sixteen, second division Sporting Gijón beating Eibar 4-2 on aggregate after drawing the second leg 2-2. The Asturians put the tie beyond the reach of their hosts with goals from Alvaro Jiménez and Pedro Pérez in the first half. That meant Eibar needed five, and although Cucurella and Charles saved a bit of pride, it was too big a task. The only other first division team to have any problems were Levante, who struggled against Lugo before winning 2-0. Coke headed the Valencia based side in front with ten minutes to go, but a goal from the Galicians would have taken the tie to extra time. However with visiting keeper Varo in the opposing penalty area for a last gasp corner, Dwamena picked up the clearance in his own half and ran to score into an empty net.

Real Madrid made it through comfortably though after thrashing Melilla 6-1. Solari rested several key players, and the North African enclave side held their own for half an hour or so. Marco Asensio scored twice however and then set up Javi Sánchez for the third before the break, and Isco helped himself to a brace in the second half. Vinicius got one in between after his first effort was saved, and Yacine fired home a consolation penalty for the visitors with ten minutes to go. Meanwhile Betis easily knocked out Racing Santander after a 4-0 victory, Jon Ander deflecting a shot from Barragán into his own net on the half hour mark, and Sanabria converting a penalty after Feddal was brought down in the area after the break. Sergio León headed in a corner a few minutes later, and Lo Celso completed the scoring with an individualist effort near the end. Elsewhere Athletic Bilbao repeated last week’s 0-4 scoreline against Huesca, Aduríz adding two more to the two he scored in that match, with strikes either side of half time. And Williams scored two himself in the last ten minutes to give new coach Gaika Garitano a win in his first match since taking over from Toto Berizzo a few days ago. (06.12.18)

More cup ties on Wednesday, with first division sides winning through all of them. The only remaining regional third division team Sant Andreu were beaten 4-0 by Atlético Madrid, but not before the Catalans hit the post and brought a couple of good saves out of Adán. After the break however Lemar fired the locals into the lead with a long shot in off the post, and Kalinic, Correa and Vitolo added three more after that. Barcelona also had no problems seeing off Cultural Leonesa, with some of their lesser used players getting a chance to shine. Munir and Denis Suárez put them two up with less than half an hour gone, and Malcom headed a third before the interval. Josep Señé got one back for the visitors soon after the restart, but another of Barça’s promising youngsters, Riqui Puig, set up Denis Suárez making it 4-1 soon afterwards. Sevilla had a few problems however before beating Villanovense 1-0, and after a 0-0 draw in the first leg, a goal by the Extremadura based side would have knocked out their hosts. Machin’s team dominated throughout, but the only goal came some five minutes into the second half following a penalty by Isma Gil on Muriel, the keeper saving André Silva’s spot kick, but the striker knocking in the rebound.

The highest score of the night though was Villarreal’s 8-0 win over Almería, a result which took some of the pressure off coach Javier Calleja. Ekambi scored a hat-trick and Bacca netted a fourth before the break, and Ekambi got his own fourth of the evening before Gerard Moreno, Bacca (from the penalty spot) and Raba completed the rout. Valladolid will join them in next week’s fifth round draw after they won 2-1 against Mallorca, although they had to come from behind to do so, Oscar Plano and Verde getting the goals (and Duje Cop missing a penalty) after Abdón had put the islanders in front at the start of the second half. Two all first-division ties as well, impressive strikes by Oyarzabal and Januzaj in the first half hour taking Real Sociedad through 2-0 against Celta, and Girona securing their place in the last sixteen for the first time in their history after beating Alavés 2-1, a Granell free kick and a goal from Portu midway through the second half turning things around after Alcalá headed Borja Bastón’s cross into his own goal. (05.12.18)

The second legs of the cup fourth round take place this week, with four ties on Tuesday. There were no surprises, although Valencia struggled to beat CD Ebro (currently languishing near the bottom of their second division B regional group), Batsuyashi scoring on the hour mark to give them a 1-0 victory. It was a similar case for Espanyol as well, a late strike by Hernán Pérez taking them through on the away goal rule against Cádiz after they lost the first leg 2-1. Leganés are also through after a 0-1 win at neighbours Rayo Vallecano, Emi Velázquez putting through his own net early on, and visiting keeper Lunin saving a second half penalty from Bebé, and the other South Madrid club Getafe cruised into the next round as well after a convincing 5-1 win against Córdoba, with Angel scoring a hat-trick (including a penalty) and Portillo and Rober Ibáñez also on the scoresheet, and Aythami replying for the Andalusians with the game already lost. (04.12.18)