First round

Match played on 8th September

The first round of the Spanish cup kicked off with one tie on Sunday night between second division A sides Salamanca and Racing Ferrol. The visitors surprised their opponents scoring three goals in the first half of the match, two from new signing Pezzarossi and one in between from David Pérez, with Méndez adding another after the break for a 0-4 scoreline. To make matters worse for Salamanca, their central defender Noguerol was sent off in the last few minutes.

Both games involving teams from Murcia have been postponed, Ciudad de Murcia versus Recreativo until further notice due to an appeal by Villanueva that Ciudad fielded a suspended player in the last round, and Real Murcia versus Poli Ejido to the 18th September due to an epidemic of gastro-enteritis in the Ejido squad. The venues for two ties will be changed as the visiting clubs have exercised their right not to play on artificial pitches. Corralejo versus Deportivo will take place at the Las Palmas Insular stadium, and Gramanet versus Mallorca will be played at Espanyol B's Ciudad Deportiva.

Matches played on 10th September

Villarreal became the first club from the top flight to be knocked out of the cup after they lost 2-1 to second division B side Hércules. The team from Alicante took the lead through Lafuerza in the tenth minute, and were unlucky not to go further ahead later in the first half. The visitors were left a man short after Unai was sent off for a second bookable offence just after the restart, but things evened up a few minutes later when Jacinto also got his marching orders. Five minutes later Palermo levelled the scores, heading home Calleja's cross. However Hércules struck the winner seven minutes from the end through Borge, and they resisted the last desperate attacks from Víctor Muñoz's side to go into the hat for the second round draw.

Osasuna had no trouble finishing off Lemona, also from 2B, despite lining up with a team packed with second string players. New manager Javier Aguirre rested almost all of his first choice side but the replacements put in their claim for a game with a good performance. Mateo gave the Pamplona based side the lead with a well struck free kick on the half hour mark, and Palacios and Alfredo finished things off after the break, the first from Ochoa's pass and the second after beating the offside trap.

There was some doubt whether the game between Compostela and Oviedo would take place as employees of the home side were threatening to strike as a protest against further delays in salary payments. In the end though the match went ahead, although the Gallicians probably wished it had not, as they crashed out of the competition after losing to a single Rubén goal. Oviedo's keeper Jonathan was instrumental in keeping the scores level in the first half, and the young striker headed the winner with an hour on the clock from Losada's cross.

Matches played on 11th September

Five more first division sides were knocked out of the cup tonight. By far the biggest shock though was the elimination of Barcelona at the hands of Novelda by a 3-2 scoreline. Geovanni, substituting for the rested Kluivert, gave Van Gaal's side the lead when he thrashed a loose ball past Rubén in the first half. However two goals from Madrigal in a six minute period after the break turned the result around, the first when he got ahead of Reiziger to slide in Gari's free kick and the second when he beat a slow De Boer to the ball to beat Enke. Riquelme equalised from the penalty spot after Pollo pulled down Rochemback, but then Madrigal completed his hat-trick, again finding a gap in the defence to head a long cross down past the hesitant Enke. In the last minute Xavi found the net with a header, but for the fourth time in the game the visitors' goal was disallowed for offside. The result means that the Catalans were eliminated in the first round of the cup for the second year in a row by a second division B side, after losing to Figueres last year.

Small consolation, but that's not as bad as Real Sociedad, who lost out in the first round for the fifth season in a row after falling 3-1 at Zaragoza. Soriano gave the home side the lead heading home Corona's fee kick, but things appeared to go wrong when Kolmjenovic was sent off a few minutes later after giving away a penalty which De Pedro transformed. However Yordi restored the lead a minute later, also from the penalty spot after Corona was brought down, and Drulic finished things off near the end.

Racing Santander and Rayo Vallecano were both knocked out by sides from the second division B. Racing lost 3-2 to Real Unión, despite going in at half time in front. Javi Guerrero opened the scoring, heading home Pablo Sierra's cross, and Regueiro put them back in front only minutes after Badiola had beaten young keeper Borja with a low shot. However Sergio Francisco struck twice in ten minutes after the restart to put the team from Irún through to the next round, despite the presence of new signings Munitis and Diego Alonso for the visitors.

Rayo Vallecano lost 2-1 to Cultural Leonesa in extra time after the game finished all square after 90 minutes. After a dull first half, the León based side took the lead from the penalty spot a quarter of an hour from the end after Ibañez was brought down in the penalty area. Michel II headed an equaliser five minutes later, but José Vega hit the winner at the end of the first half of extra time to send visiting president Teresa Rivero home with (as they say here) a fly in her ear.

It was a bad day for Barcelona, as the city's other first division side Espanyol were also knocked out by a second division B team, losing 1-0 to Alicante. It was the second game in 24 hours played at the Rico Pérez stadium after the ground's owners Hércules had eliminated Villarreal the day before (Alicante's ground was closed for renovations), and there were celebrations once again in the town. Garitano got the only goal with twelve minutes to go soon after coming on as substitute, beating Argensó after Juli's attempted scissor kick landed in front of him, and. Espanyol's Alex was sent off for a second bookable offence as frustration showed through in the last minutes. Not a good day for the twin strike force of Milosevic and Tamudo, playing together in an official match for the first time.

Talking of twin strike forces, Luque and Diego Tristán also made their official debut together for Deportivo La Coruña in the game against Corralejo, which had to be played in Las Palmas after the first division club exercised their rights under the competition rules not to play on the artificial turf in Fuerteventura. The ex-Mallorca duo fared a bit better, with Luque opening the scoring early on for his first official goal with his new club. A few doubts did creep in when Simón scored from the penalty spot after he himself was brought down on the half hour mark, and only a good performance by keeper Juanmi kept the Canary Islanders at bay. However César hit the winner from close range a quarter of an hour from the end to keep the defending cup winners in the competition.

There was no question though who were the most successful pairing of the day. All the talk of Ronaldo and Raúl at Real Madrid, but Del Bosque gave Tote and Portillo a run out against the only third division club left in the competition, San Sebastian de los Reyes, and they completed a hat-trick each in a scandalous 1-8 victory. There was a small scare as Sanse took the lead through Roa in the twelfth minute, but a cross in from acting captain Steve McManaman set up Tote to equalise soon afterwards. After that there was no looking back, with Portillo and Tote again scoring before the break, and Portillo making it four soon after the restart. Solari and second half substitute Morientes also got in on the act, and Tote and Portillo finished things off to equal their best ever away win in an official competition.

Madrid's neighbours Atlético are usually good for a cup run, although they had to come from a goal down on Lanzarote's artificial pitch to run out 1-2 winners. Unlike other top clubs, Aragonés did not insist on a change of venue, but he must have regretted it when the hosts took the lead from a Sergio penalty given away by Otero. However Fernando Torres cancelled out the early goal before the break, also from the penalty spot after Fali handled in the area, and Movilla scored a screamer with ten minutes to go to knock out the Canary Island side.

Another of Spain's most successful cup sides Athletic Bilbao also won 1-2 at Amurrio, with all three goals coming in the first half. Veteran Julen Guerrero volleyed them into the lead in the sixth minute, but Amurrio came back strongly and after hitting the post, Jaba levelled the scores with a clever free kick. Only the woodwork kept the home side from going in front, and in the end it took a late goal from substitute Urzaiz to take Jupp Heynckes' team through.

The same result too for Valladolid, who beat Sporting Gijon thanks to a late goal from Sousa. Aganzo had put them in front ten minutes before half time with a headed goal, but Villa made it all square in the second half shortly after Valladolid's Peña had been sent off with a straight red card.

Valencia struggled to make it through, and only did so on penalties after the game against Gimnastic Tarragona ended goal-less. With Cañizares and four other first team players touring China, Palop took over in goal and saved Herrero's kick to put the league champions through 4-5 on the shoot out. It was the first time the league champions have reached the second round in the new format competition after losing to Gaudix and Novelda (for fielding four non-EU players) in the last two seasons.

Málaga also had to resort to the penalty shoot out against Extremadura, which they won 1-4 thanks to two saves from Contreras. The visitors were up against it when Darío Silva was sent off for retaliating, kicking out at Fragoso who had brought him down with half an hour gone. However Dely Valdés gave them the lead from a second half penalty after Fernando Sanz was pulled back by Romerito. The ex Mallorca player made up for his mistake though by levelling the scores to take the match into extra time.

Alavés also had their work cut out to defeat a valiant Barakaldo, ending up 1-3 winners thanks to two goals in the second period of extra time from Iván Alonso and Rubén Navarro. Astudillo had given them the lead in the first minute of the second half with a shot from outside of the area, but Arregui forced the extra 30 minutes with a 90th minute free kick which Dutruel should have stopped.

Mallorca left it to the last minute as well, but they didn't need penalties to finish off Gramanet. Novo's last minute strike following a corner was enough to give them a 0-1 win after a dull 90 minutes. The game was moved to Espanyol B's Ciudad Deportiva after Mallorca refused to play on the Catalan side's artificial pitch.

Celta also won by a single away goal at Burgos, scored by Edu with half an hour gone after good work by Coira and McCarthy. Earlier on Edu had seen a goal disallowed, but after the break Burgos came back and were unlucky not to level the scores. There was nobody from the home side in the directors' box to watch though, the club president and the entire board resigning before the game with the club once again in financial difficulties.

Sevilla's two sides both won 0-3 away to qualify for the second round without too much trouble. Betis manager Víctor Fernández gave a run out to Gastón Casas, and he made full use of his opportunity hitting a hat-trick against Jerez de los Caballeros. All three goals came from passes by the on-form Denilson, the first two headers early in each half and the third a shot later on.

Sevilla defeated Jaén by the same score, although they didn't get going until the last quarter of an hour of the match. Moisés scored twice, both from headers, and Gallardo added the third from a Marcos Vales pass for a flattering result. It could be costly though for Caparrós' side, with Torrado and Reyes both leaving the field injured in the first half.

Second division B side Palamós got the second highest score of the day, a 6-1 win over Elche which puts visiting manager Julián Rubio's job on the line. The Catalans were already four goals up a minute after half time when Aguilar scored from the penalty spot after Toño (2) and Sarabia had put them in front in the first half, and although Armentano pulled one back, Benja and Aguilar again completed the humiliation.

Terrassa are Cataluña's only other representatives after a 2-0 win over Levante. The visitors turned up without their new signing Mijatovic, and found themselves behind to a Keko penalty before half time. Cristian added a second after the restart.

The two Canary Island sides relegated from the top flight last season are both out. Tenerife lost 2-0 at Numancia, their first defeat under new manager Ewald Lienen. Jaume opened the scoring for the side from Soria in the fifth minute, and Nuñez got the second after the interval.

Las Palmas were beaten 2-1 by Getafe thanks to an extra time goal by veteran striker Craioveanu. The visitors went in front early on through Rubén, but Alberto made it all square before the break. Las Palmas ended the game with nine men after Carmelo and Socorro were sent off near the end, and manager Yosu Uribe also saw a red card for protesting.

Linares became the seventh second division B side to reach the second round after beating Leganés 1-0. Melo sent the 6,000 crowd into frenzy with the only goal of the game three minutes from the end.

Motril went close to joining them though, only losing in the penalty shoot out to Badajoz 3-4 after the game finished 1-1.Goals from Mantecón for the visitors in the first half and Arenaza after the restart. Francis and Pía missed their penalties at the end for the home side.

Eibar sneaked through 1-2 against Albacete with a last minute Kortina goal. A Garitano penalty put the Basque side ahead before the interval, but Mikel made it all square with a quarter of an hour to go before the visitors hit the winner. Eibar's manager Blas Ziarreta will be banned for two matches after getting himself another red card.

Xerez had no trouble beating Cacereño 0-2, the locals looking tired after playing their fourth game in nine days. Dani Pendín scored, with help from defender Maxi, folllwing a corner early in the second half, and ex Málaga midfielder Zárate combined with Mena to score the second.

Almería defeated Córdoba 3-2 thanks to an extra time goal from Jorge Pérez. The visitors came from behind twice, Eloy and Whelliton (penalty) scoring after Bilic and then Ortíz had twice given the home side the lead.

Match played on 18th September

Murcia go through to the second round after a 1-0 victory over Poli Ejido. The only goal of the game came from an individualist effort by Gómez shortly after the break, and Loreto could have extended the lead when he hit the post near the end. However Reinke had to save the day with stops from Sabino and Trzeciak. The game was postponed a week due to a gastro enteritis epidemic which hit the Ejido squad.

Match played on 9th October

Recreativo Huelva scraped through to the second round with a 1-2 win over third division Villanueva. The game had been postponed due to the disqualification of Villanueva's qualifying round opponents Ciudad de Murcia, and was played in the municipal stadium of Pozoblanco as the home side's pitch only had an earth playing surface. Recre's Gallego scored late in the first half, but Falín equalised right after the restart. Substitute Bermejo restored the lead a quarter of an hour from the end, and the first division team held on even though Juanito hit the crossbar for the Córdoba based home side in the last minute. Diego Tristán's brother José Antonio came on as substitute for the last ten minutes for Villanueva.