Teenage midfielder Andres Iniesta netted an early goal Wednesday as FC Barcelona downed second-division Levante 3-1 and reached the Copa del Rey quarterfinals on a 3-2 aggregate score.
In other third-round second-leg games, Valencia defeated Osasuna 2-0 to win through 4-2, while second-division Alaves drew 1-1 with Valladolid and advanced on away goals.
In other matches, Celta de Vigo drew 2-2 with Malaga for a 3-2 aggregate win, while Zaragoza drew 1-1 with Real Betis to win 4-2.
PHOTO: AP
Barcelona, Valencia, Alaves, Celta and Zaragoza join Real Madrid, which overcame Eibar 2-0 on Tuesday to advance 3-1, in the quarterfinals.
Thursday's games (with first-leg scores in parentheses) are: Deportivo de La Coruna vs. Atletico de Madrid (0-0); and Sevilla vs. Villarreal (3-1).
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Barcelona leveled the overall score after five minutes when the 19-year-old Iniesta shot home from close range after goalkeeper Jose Luis Aizpurua had parried a shot by Argentine striker Javier Saviola.
PHOTO: AFP
Saviola, playing in place of the injured Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert, seized on a through ball by midfielder Xavi Hernandez to double Barcelona's lead on the stroke of halftime.
Ronaldinho added Barcelona's third goal with a 66th-minute penalty, awarded after Levante defender Tomas Olias was adjudged to have fouled the busy Saviola.
Colombian striker Edwin Congo gave Levante hope with a goal four minutes from time, leaving Barcelona to face a nervous spell before the final whistle.
Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard chose not to give a debut to the club's new signing from Juventus, Edgar Davids, saying the Dutch international midfielder was not fully fit. Davids watched the game from the stands.
Even though it had drawn the first leg in Valencia, Osasuna could do nothing on its home turf to stop the league leader.
Spanish international midfielder Vicente Rodriguez gave Valencia the lead in the 28th minute with an angled shot from the left of the goal.
Midfielder Francisco Perez Rufete fired the second goal after Osasuna goalkeeper Juantxo Elia blocked a back-heel by Miguel Angel Angulo in the 59th.
Osasuna was reduced to 10 men in the 77th minute when Argentine midfielder Gerardo Rivero was ejected for a foul on his compatriot Pablo Aimar.
With the first leg at Alaves ending goalless, Argentine forward Mauricio Astudillo's 83rd-minute header made the aggregate score 1-1 and sent his team into the next round, the only lower division team to do so. The Basque team lies fourth in the second division.
Valladolid had appeared to be heading for the last eight of the competition after Alaves defender Jesus Galvan deflected David Sousa's free kick past his own goalkeeper in the 14th minute.
Celta's Brazilian midfielder Vagner, who also scored his team's goal in the first leg, netted two more to eliminate Malaga.
Italian Cup
Massimo Ambrosini netted the game-winner in injury time Wednesday as defending champion AC Milan downed league leader AS Roma 2-1 at San Siro stadium in their first-leg match of the Italian Cup quarterfinals.
In an earlier quarterfinal game, Lazio defeated Parma 2-0 at Rome's Stadio Olimpico on goals by striker Roberto Muzzi and Serbian midfielder Dejan Stankovic.
In Milan, the team owned by premier Silvio Berlusconi gave an encore of the 2-1 win over the Roman rival in a crucial Serie A match last week.
Substitute Danish striker Jon Dahl Tomasson put AC Milan in front in the 39th minute on a quick counter-attack, which caught the Roma defense wide open.
Tomasson, who has a high scoring rate although playing only portions of matches, scored with a diagonal shot as Roma players strongly protested an offside position of another Milan player.
As Tomasson missed two chances to make it two with a lob and a header that went just wide, Norwegian striker John Carew scored Roma's equalizer in the 78th, taking advantage of a mishap of Danish defender Martin Laursen.
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti fielded the Brazilian duo of Serginho and Kaka in the closing minutes in an effort to clinch victory and the move paid off as a low cross by Serginho and a rebound offered Ambrosini the chance to kick into the open net in injury time.
Ambrosini, a midfielder, was AC Milan captain Wednesday in absence of long time captain Paolo Maldini.
Both teams were without key players, who were rested for the upcoming league matches.
Milan missed top striker Andriy Shevchenko, Maldini and Rui Costa while starting key defender Alessandro Nesta returned from a one-month knee injury. Roma was without captain Francesco Totti and imaginative Antonio Cassano.
"We played better in the first half and Roma prevailed in the second," Ancelotti said.
"It was a match between two great teams and the result leaves qualification open for both sides."
Roma coach Fabio Capello stressed the importance of the away goal scored by his team, as the two-leg rounds can be decided by the away goals rule.
At Stadio Olimpico, Muzzi headed in Lazio's first goal in the 36th, off a cross by Fabio Liverani. Stankovic, who is amid rumors of a possible transfer to Inter Milan, made it two in the 60th with a precise drive.
The home win in the Italian Cup, against the Parma team which had upset Inter Milan the last weekend, gave Lazio players and fans some consolation following consecutive losses in league matches.
In Tuesday's action, Inter Milan salvaged a 0-0 draw at Udinese. League champion Juventus is at Perugia today.
Second leg matches were spread over three days next week.
FA Cup
Two goals by Adrian Mutu and others from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen gave Chelsea a 4-0 victory over first-division Watford on Wednesday and a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
In two other third-round replays, Manchester City defeated fellow Premier League Leicester 3-1 to end a 14-game winless streak, and non-conference Scarborough won 1-0 over third-division Southend.
After settling for a draw in the initial game at Watford, Chelsea had little problem outclassing the first-division club in the replay at Stamford Bridge.
Mutu scored in the 7th and 76th minutes and the Dutchman added his in the 34th. Gudjohnsen scored in the 84th.
Nicolas Anelka got the winning goal in Man City's 3-1 win over Leicester.
Antoine Sibierski's fifth goal of the season on a close-in header in the 11th minute gave City a 1-0 lead. But Les Ferdinand equalized in the 73rd on a free kick that went through the Man City wall and found the net off a slight deflection.
Anekla had a chance to win the match seven minutes from the end, but send a volley from 10m high over the crossbar.
But in injury time, he took advantage of a wild Leicester throw-in, chasing down the loose ball to score from 18m. Jonathan Macken added another a minute later.
Anelka took off his strip after the goal to reveal an undershirt with a message for City goalkeeper David Seaman, who announced his retirement on Tuesday.
"David Seaman We Love You," it said.
"He's a big legend in England and I wanted to say thank you to him," the Frenchman said.
In the night's other third-round replay, conference side Scarborough won 1-0 over Southend off Mark Quayle's 83rd-minute goal.
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