Valencia ousted Sevilla from the Copa del Rey despite a 2-1 loss on Wednesday, advancing on away goals after striker Roberto Soldado scored in the second half.
Soldado ran on to an excellent through ball by Jonas, who scored in Valencia’s 1-0 first-leg win, and coolly slotted a finish past goalkeeper Javier Varas into the right corner of the net for his team’s 66th-minute opener.
Midfielder Ivan Ratikic pounced on a rebound to level for the hosts four minutes later and Valencia defender Victor Ruiz scored an own-goal in stoppage-time, but his team still advanced on the aggregate score of 2-2.
Photo: Reuters
“We are satisfied because after a tough match that hinged on details in key moments, the team was able to pull it out,” Valencia coach Unai Emery said.
Valencia will face regional rival Levante UD in the quarter-finals after they swept aside second-tier Alcorcon 4-0 for a 5-2 aggregate score, while Alvaro Vazquez scored a hat-trick as RCD Espanyol beat second-division Cordoba 4-2 for a 5-4 overall advantage.
Sevilla forward Jose Antonio Reyes had a quiet home debut at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan since returning to his boyhood club from Atletico Madrid last week.
Needing to score from the outset, Sevilla took the initiative early with Piotr Trochowski, Alvaro Negredo and Jesus Navas all drawing saves from Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves.
Sevilla’s pressure kept Valencia on the back foot and defender Adil Rami almost scored an own-goal in the 26th minute when he redirected Negredo’s strike off the post.
Valencia finally threatened the hosts’ area after the half-hour mark when Varas was forced to make a pair of diving saves to parry long strikes by Soldado and Jonas.
With the score 1-1, Ruiz chested a cross into his own net to give Sevilla hope and Frederic Kanoute almost secured advancement for Sevilla in the dying moments, but he headed wide.
Jose Barkero sparked Levante’s rout by scoring on the break in the 23rd minute. Reserve team striker Roger Marti made it 2-0 when he shot into the top of the net in the 45th minute and midfielder Vicente Iborra headed in a corner-kick at the near post in the 52nd minute to put the tie beyond doubt.
Ruben Suarez capped the win in the 65th minute with a perfectly placed free-kick that he smashed into the top right corner of the net from well outside the area.
Levante, who earlier this season surprisingly took the lead in La Liga for the first time in their history, have not advanced this far in the domestic cup since 1941.
“Our priority is the league, but we are also going to compete for the Copa,” Levante coach Juan Ignacio Martinez said. “We got by Deportivo, we have beaten Alcorcon, and if we can make it through the next round, we’ll be very happy.”
The 20-year-old Alvaro, who netted the late equalizer in Espanyol’s 1-1 draw with Barcelona on Sunday, scored from passes from Sergio Garcia in the 10th minute and Vladimir Weiss in the 21st minute.
Defender Didac Vila extended Espanyol’s lead in the 36th minute at the Estadio Cornella-El Prat with a shot from inside the area, but Cordoba responded with goals from Alberto Aguilar and Pepe Diaz to make it 3-2, a result that would have put the Andalusian team through.
Espanyol mustered a late push and Alvaro deftly chipped oncoming goalkeeper Carlos Arias from the right side of the box for the 89th-minute decider.
Espanyol move on to face Mirandes after the third-division side knocked out Real Racing Club de Santander on Tuesday.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was