Valencia eased past La Liga rivals CA Osasuna into the quarter-finals of the King’s Cup on Tuesday, while Malaga flirted with danger against third-tier Eibar before a flurry of late goals put them safely into the last eight.
Valencia will play 2011 winners Real Madrid or RC Celta de Vigo for a place in the semi-finals, with Celta holding a 2-1 advantage from last month’s last-16 first leg, ahead of their visit to the Santiago Bernabeu yesterday.
Malaga are facing a probable last-eight clash with holders Barcelona, who host Cordoba today having won their first leg 2-0 at the second-division Andalusian club.
Photo: EPA
Valencia went into their second leg against Pamplona-based Osasuna with a 2-0 lead and were cruising at a half-empty Estadio Mestalla when Tino Costa smashed in a free-kick to open the scoring in the 34th minute.
However, Joseba Llorente pulled a goal back with a powerful low drive three minutes later and both sides squandered a number of chances before substitute Roberto Soldado struck with the last kick of the game for a 2-1 victory that sent Valencia through 4-1 on aggregate.
In the earlier kickoff at Malaga’s La Rosaleda, Argentine midfielder Diego Buonanotte saved the Andalusian club from potential humiliation when he scored twice and created another in a 4-1 comeback win against lowly SD Eibar.
Lying second in their regional section of the Segunda B division and never having played in the top flight, Eibar knocked out last year’s finalists Athletic Bilbao in the previous round and held Malaga to a 1-1 draw at their tiny Estadio Ipurua in the Basque Country in the first leg.
They took a surprise lead in the 12th minute of the return game when Ruben Arroyo was quickest to the rebound from a long-range Mikel Arruabarrena effort and goalkeeper Carlos Kameni could only deflect his weak shot into the net.
With Malaga fielding a weakened side, Eibar held on relatively comfortably until the 74th minute, when Buonanotte exchanged passes with Javier Saviola and struck the ball high past Eibar goalkeeper Xabi Iruretagoiena.
Two minutes later, Buonanotte set up Seba Fernandez to make it 2-1 on the night and substitute Francisco Portillo glanced a header into the net from a Nacho Monreal center in the 82nd minute as the visitors’ defenses crumbled.
Their misery was complete when Guillermo Roldan was shown a straight red card four minutes from time and Buonanotte scored his second in added time to make it 5-2 on aggregate and set up a quarter-final meeting with holders Barcelona or Cordoba.
Sevilla were virtually assured of a place in the last eight after they won their first leg at RECD Mallorca 5-0 and were to host the Balearic Islanders yesterday before Real Zaragoza seek to maintain a 1-0 advantage at home to Levante UD.
Atletico Madrid have a 3-0 advantage over Getafe when they play their second leg next week, while Real Betis Balompie and Las Palmas, another second-division side, drew 1-1 in their first leg and also meet today.
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