Real Valladolid joined the already long list of Primeras eliminated after losing (1-0) in Mendizorroza against Deportivo Alavés who took advantage of the superiority in the field that left Fedal red after five minutes. The blow for Pucela was even greater when at 10′ Sylla made it 1-0, bordering on 2-0 Arroyo. Valladolid endured the downpour and had up to three clear chances through Gonzalo Plata. The Colombian forgave and in the restart the visitors had to suffer again. Abde and Sylla were around the sentence, while Pucela did his best again to at least die in the field of a lower-class rival.
Real Sociedad defeated UD Logroñés (0-1)extending his good form, and Sevilla did the same against Linares (0-5)with three goals from Youssef En-Nesyri and an important joy, to reach the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey,
Imanol Alguacil’s team continued with its good moment, without falling asleep for the Holidays or the break for the World Cup, and resolved by the minimum but without suffering in Las Gaunas. The La Rioja team was soon at the mercy of the quality ‘txuri-urdin’ although they did not leave the game after Robert Navarro’s 0-1 draw after half an hour. Before, the Real had warned with a very clear one from Sorloth and some more from Brais Méndez. The Spanish international was in every play with danger, although the local team, under a nice atmosphere in the stands, remained on their feet. Mikel Merino accumulated the Basque chances in the second half, where there was no suspense despite the 0-1.
La Real, Cup champion in 2020, did not mislead an inch and will be in the draw on Saturday after finishing with a First RFEF as Sevilla did, refugee in the middle of their difficult moment in the League and with three goals from En-Nesyri, the third already with Linares delivered (0-5) by the rival punch. En-Nesyri brought the gift of Reyes in advance for a Sevilla that was beginning to guess a complicated cup afternoon. The bad inertia of the Andalusians appeared in the Linares field but the Moroccan striker flew to finish off the 0-1, as he did against Portugal in the semifinals of Qatar 2022. The striker made it 0-2 two minutes later, on 40′, when the team from Jaén made the mistake of going up. At a time, when the locals dominated and Sevilla hardly generated any danger, without Sampaoli because he was sent off after 15 minutes for a Mateo Lahoz who will continue to make headlines.
The staging of the five-time champion had not been bad, with Suso arriving and feeling dangerous, but Álex Sancris had a couple of chances for the locals and Linares added possession to the favorable script. Then, En-Nesyri left that header and finished off the pass from a Lamela who stole the ball from Lolo González to make it 0-2. For Sevilla it was an important compass and, even without their coach on the wing, they found the right course for the game, with a Linares who gave the last blows after the restart. The visiting attack was once again forceful with Squadrone’s own goal, Lamela’s 0-4 and the little hand that En-Nesyri signed to find joy and goals in the Cup with which to respond to the crisis in the League.
Mallorca needs the extension
Besides, Mallorca, who came from a bad match in Getafe, had to sweat against Pontevedra to seal their pass already in extra time (0-2). Abdón Prats and a Muriqi who entered almost for extra time sentenced the Galicians, after 90 minutes of uncertainty due to the local resistance in Pasarón. Ruiz de Galarreta and Grenier were able to give the Balearic Islands income in the first half, but the visiting sparks were not enough. Pontevedra, a First RFEF team, seemed to have the game where they wanted and, despite the entry of Lee Kang-In, Mallorca had no ideas in attack. Giovani and Abdón did not enter, but the goal in extra time against Aguirre’s men was no longer resisted.
Atlético and Barça impose logic
Atlético de Madrid advanced to the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey against Real Oviedo intense and dominating who forgave his chances at the beginning and later paid dearly for the quality of Griezmann, key in the goals from Llorente and Pablo Barrios -one in each half- that give the classification to Cholo Simeone’s team (0-2).
Atleti needed the round pass like eating, and the one who came out to eat Atleti was an Oviedo who was about to make a mess for the colchoneros after a robbery by Viti that Obeng did not materialize and Witsel finally cleared. The clearest ones kept coming for the Oviedistas, who touched the goal from set pieces in a free shot by Tarín in the area and in a counter-strike by Lucas and Viti that Obeng also impaled in the area, but sent it high.
After forgiving the locals so much, the ones that were not going to fail were Simeone’s men, who set off fireworks with a magnificent pass from Griezmann to Llorente and a chopped shot from the latter that served to beat Tomeu on the counter. And, in the second half, with Griezmann through, the final blow came to close the tie in favor of the rojiblancos: a combination of the French international with Correa and Pablo Barrios -recently entered the field- served the youth squad to define against Tomeu and score the second and definitive visitor goal.
For his part, Barcelona qualified for the round of 16 by winning 3-4 at the Rico Pérez stadium in Alicante against a heroic Intercity, who came to tie up to three times with a triplet by Oriol Soldevilla, but who knelt in extra time. Xavi Hernández did not want surprises, so he staged a quite recognizable eleven with several regular starters and from the first moment Barcelona sought to solve the tie on the fast track with high pressure and rapid circulation of the ball. The visitors took the lead with an early goal by Araújo from a corner kick in the 4th minute, but the madness was to come in the second half. Solde, determined to make things difficult for the ‘culés’, tied at 59, making Rico Pérez roar.
Barça reacted quickly and took the lead again in minute 66 thanks to a goal from Dembelé, but the people from Alicante leveled the score again in minute 74. However, the local joy was brief: in minute 77 Raphinha once again gave the lead to Barcelona. As the game reached the final minutes, Intercity once again found a prize when Soldevilla took advantage of a mistake by Marcos Alonso to make it 3-3. The 86th minute was running and the game inevitably went to extra time.
There ended the heroism of Alicante. A single shot from Ansu Fati put the final score at 3-4 in the final stretch of the first part of extra time, and the luminous player no longer moved despite the support of the 26,000 spectators who gathered at the coliseum that it usually hosts Hercules matches.
