Second-division side CD Mirandes caused an upset by knocking RC Deportivo de La Coruna out of the Copa del Rey on Tuesday, while Sevilla also advanced to the quarter-finals after making light work of city rivals Real Betis Balompie.
Mirandes drew last week’s last-16 first-leg tie at their Estadio Municipal de Anduva in Miranda de Ebro, Spain, and a Daniel Provencio double either side of an Abdon Prats strike in the return game secured a superb 3-0 win on the night and a 4-1 aggregate success.
“We knew it was a big game for us and were confident of getting a good result,” said Provencio, whose side reached the semi-finals in 2012 before falling to eventual runners-up Athletic Bilbao.
Photo: EPA
“It does not really matter who we get drawn against in the next round,” the former Rayo Vallecano de Madrid midfielder added. “We have our weapons and will fight for everything.”
Deportivo, hammered 5-0 at Real Madrid in La Liga at the weekend, were whistled by their own fans as they fell to a team who were in the fourth tier less than a decade ago and have never played in the top flight.
It was a huge blow for the Galician club, who came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Spanish and European champions Barcelona in La Liga last month and are ninth at the halfway stage of the campaign.
“They are a very good team, very intense and they played very well,” Deportivo midfielder Alejandro Bergantinos said. “We just have to look at what went wrong and make sure it does not happen in the league.”
Sevilla put themselves in a strong position when they won 2-0 at Betis last week and a crushing 4-0 success in the return at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan sent the UEFA Europa League holders through 6-0 on aggregate.
The tie was effectively over when captain Jose Antonio Reyes struck after four minutes, before defender Adil Rami was left unmarked at a 35th-minute corner and cracked the ball past Betis goalkeeper Antonio Adan to make it 2-0.
Forward Kevin Gameiro raced away to score in the 73rd minute moments after coming off the bench to replace Fernando Llorente, while Gael Kakuta, another substitute, completed the scoring in the 89th minute.
Atletico Madrid, the 2012-2013 winners, and Rayo are level at 1-1 after last week’s first leg, with the return at the Estadio Vicente Calderon in Madrid tonight.
Gary Neville’s Valencia lead Granada 4-0 heading into tonight’s return in Andalusia, Spain.
The quarter-finals are to be played over two legs later this month, with the semi-finals at the start of next month and the final on May 21.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
Kawhi Leonard on Sunday scored 41 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made four steals to lead the Los Angeles Clippers in a lopsided 115-96 victory at Minnesota. The 34-year-old forward, a two-time NBA champion, matched the second-best road scoring effort of his career as the Clippers improved to 25-27. “Just being aggressive. My teammates trust me,” Leonard said. “Every moment when I touch the ball — assist, shooting the basketball or getting a rebound — I’m just trying to help the team win.” Leonard made three steals in a row at the start of the contest. “Just wanted to come out early in the
RSS