Real Madrid needed a late goal from Jose Maria "Guti" Gutierrez to beat Alicante 2-1 on Wednesday, sending them through to the fifth round of the Copa del Rey.
With the second-leg match at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium appearing to be headed for extra time, Guti's superbly aimed goal enabled Madrid to get past third-division Alicante on a 3-2 aggregate score.
At the Nou Camp, Santi Ezquerro scored twice and FC Barcelona survived for a 2-2 draw against second-division Alcoyano, advancing the Catalan side 5-2 on aggregate.
PHOTO: AFP
The matches were two of 14 Spanish cup matches on Wednesday that will all but complete the field for the round-of-16.
In Madrid, winger Arjen Robben gave Madrid the lead in the 31st minute, racing up the left wing to knock in Gonzalo Higuain's cross with his left foot.
Francisco Borja equalized for Alicante when he headed low past a diving Jerzy Dudek to score in the 65th minute.
Guti then won it in the third minute of injury time.
"You always need to play well for, and against, Real Madrid because it is such a big club, and Alicante tried very hard against us," Dudek said. "We are happy with the result if not with the way we played."
"We let them off the hook a bit, but we've advanced," Madrid manager Bernd Schuster said. "I don't think there's any discussion."
Ezquerro put Barcelona ahead 2-0 early, beating an offside trap to score in the second minute and converting again eight minutes later from a precisely placed pass from Bojan Krkic.
The lead was enough to withstand a 69th-minute penalty by Alcoyano's Jorge Perona and a last-minute goal by Carlos Arnau.
Sevilla also left it to the last minute to advance to the next round when they won 4-3 at home against Denia.
Goals by Luis Fabiano in the 15th minute and Argentine defender Federico Fazio in the 26th gave Sevilla a first-half lead. But three goals in 30 minutes from Jose Jaime, Gregory and Migue put Denia ahead until Sevilla surged back in front with a goal by Ernesto Chevanton in the 88th minute and a last-minute penalty by Frederic Kanoute to advance 5-4 on aggregate.
Manager Ronald Koeman received rare cheers from a Mestalla Stadium crowd as Valencia won 3-0 win over Real Union, advancing 5-1 on aggregate. Nikola Zigic scored in the 65th minute and Joaquin Sanchez added two more in the final 13 minutes.
Ikechukwu Uche scored a goal in each half for Getafe, but failed to convert a penalty for a third in a 4-1 win against Burgos.
Atletic Bilbao struggled until the 72nd minute before David Lopez scored at the San Mames Stadium, and Aritz Aduriz added a second in the 89th minute for a 2-0 victory over Hercules, sending Bilbao ahead with a 3-2 aggregate score.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to