Two goals by Karim Benzema and one each from Kaka and Jose Rodriguez gave Real Madrid a 4-1 away win over third-tier club Alcoyano in the first round of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
Benzema headed in after Alcoyano defenders Javier Selvas and Arkaitz Perez failed to clear Alvaro Morata’s cross in the 21st minute.
Alcoyano made a fast-passing start and had pounced on three of Madrid goalkeeper Antonio Adan’s short clearances, causing Madrid to have to chase the ball hard in midfield.
“They played as I had expected — with joy, with intensity, with motivation and with self-belief because up until we started to score against them they even looked better than us,” Madrid manager Jose Mourinho said.
Kaka controled Benzema’s assist outside the penalty area, took a step forward and hit a left-footed shot low into goal in the 35th.
The 17-year-old Rodriguez made a dream first team debut with Madrid when he scored in the 67th, before Javier Lara pulled one back for Alcoyano from a free kick in the 77th. Benzema scored his second from an assist by Kaka in the 87th.
Mourinho rested Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil, Xabi Alonso, Pepe, Sergio Ramos and captain Iker Casillas.
In earlier games, Malaga beat Cacereno 4-3, Atletico Madrid trounced Real Jaen 3-0, Almeria won 2-0 against Celta Vigo, Zaragoza beat Granada 1-0 and Las Palmas downed Rayo Vallecano 1-0.
Malaga’s US international, Oguchi Onyewu, headed into goal in the fifth minute. Roque Santa Cruz doubled the lead 15 minutes later.
Malaga’s Cameroon international goalkeeper, Carlos Kameni, was beaten by Juan Gabriel Jaraiz in the 36th minute and Alberto Macias leveled after he buried a pass from Ruben Jurado in the 42nd.
Sergio Duda gave Malaga the lead in 59th minute and teammate Roque Santa Cruz scored in the 71st minute. Cacerano striker Carlos Esteve then headed into the net in the 87th minute.
Atletico Madrid showed the impressive form that has given them the co-leadership of the Spanish league with Barcelona following a solid victory against Jaen.
Diego Costa converted a penalty in the 28th minute after Jaen’s Daniel Torres had been sent off for handball in the penalty area.
Adrian Lopez beat two defenders with a strong run while controling the ball before scoring a shot.
Raul Garcia headed the final goal in injury time.
Things started badly for Rayo Vallecano when goalkeeper Daniel Gimenez was dismissed early in the first half after stopping the ball with his hand while outside the penalty area. Las Palmas’ Thievy Guivane Bifouma Koulossa hit the winner in the 21st minute.
Zaragoza forward Carlos Aranda made it 1-0 against Granada in the 80th minute. Almeria forward Jonathan Sundy Zongo from Burkina Faso scored in the 53rd minute and midfield teammate Abel Molinero added another in the 87th minute.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with