Midfielder Victor Ormazabal's 80th-minute goal gave minnows Pontevedra a 1-0 win over Zaragoza in a first-leg match of the Copa del Rey's fourth round on Wednesday.
Victor turned home a pass by substitute Xavi More to bring the third division team hope of advancing past the six-time cup winners when the teams meet again in Zaragoza on Jan. 2.
In other first-leg matches, it was: Las Palmas 2, Villarreal 4; Valladolid 1, Murcia 1; Levante 2, Almeria 1; Malaga 0, Racing Santander 0; and Xerez 0, Recreativo Huelva 1.
Lying second in the first division, Villarreal carried their good form into Spain's knockout competition with a victory over Las Palmas, currently last in the second flight.
Villarreal made a confident start courtesy of early goals by striker Guille Franco and midfielder Robert Pires.
However, Sergio Suarez halved the deficit with a 40th-minute penalty and his twin Francis Suarez fired Las Palmas' equalizer on the hour.
Franco spurned a chance to win the match with 10 minutes remaining when his penalty kick was saved by goalkeeper Angel Pindado.
Las Palmas captain David Garcia was dismissed in the 84th minute and Villarreal made the most of their numerical advantage when midfielder Bruno Soriano and Franco added late goals.
Murcia striker Fernando Baiano gave his side a 48th minute lead at first division rivals Valladolid, with Diego Camacho equalizing seven minutes later.
Levante striker Mustapha Riga scored in the third and 42nd minutes to decide another game between two top flight sides.
Almeria replied through forward Natalio Lorenzo in the 19th minute and teammate Jose Luis Cabrera was ejected 40 minutes later.
Santander played out a stalemate with second division leaders Malaga.
Recreativo Huelva enjoyed better luck at second division strugglers Xerez, with midfielder Javier Camunas netting the game's only goal in the 88th minute.
Top flight clubs Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Espanyol and others have opted to play their first legs next month to avoid being affected by international call-ups.
All of the second legs will be played on Jan. 2.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS