Third round, second leg

Match played on 14th January

Real Madrid are the first club to reach the quarter finals after beating Terrassa 4-2 on Tuesday night. Once again Del Bosque put out a team packed with reserves, but after drawing the first leg match he took the precaution of including team captain Hierro in the side and leaving Figo and Roberto Carlos on the bench just in case they were needed. The Catalans got off to a spirited start, but the class showed through when Tote played a pass into the gap for Celades to turn the ball under Maestro midway through the first half. Then ten minutes before the break Guti drifted effortlessly into the area and was brought down from behind by Jordi Navas. The referee had no doubt in pointing to the spot despite the protests of the Terrassa players, and Hierro calmly stroked the ball past Maestro for Madrid's second of the night.

The first division side could have scored on two or three occasions either side of half time, but Monty pulled a goal back for the visitors, bending his shot wide of César for his third goal in the tie. For a few minutes the 700 travelling supporters thought they might have a chance, but McManaman found Portillo for him to force the ball in off Rubén's boot, and then the English midfielder scored himself, controlling a long pass to coolly shoot past Maestro into the top corner of the net. Still there was time for the visitors to score again, Besora deflecting Cristian's shot past César after a short free kick, and Babangida almost got another in the last seconds on a quick counterattack, César turning his shot away for a corner. An entertaining match, but never really much doubt over the winners.

Matches played on 15th January

The remaining seven fixtures of the third round took place tonight, with all games being decided in the regulation ninety minutes. The biggest surprise of the day was at Vitoria, where second division Murcia won 1-2 against first division Alavés to go through to the last eight. David Vidal's side have been a bit of a revelation recently, moving up to second in their league after six games without defeat, and after almost two and a half hours without a goal in this tie, David Karanka put them ahead after Tito's corner was headed on. With the away goals counting double in the event of a draw, the Basques had to score twice, and they did get one goal when Rubén Navarro collected Ibon Begoña's off target shot to beat Reinke with twenty minutes to go. But to the dismay of the local fans Murcia got another five minutes later, Setvalls heading a Tito free kick over Dutruel, and even though Acciari was shown a direct red card for a hard tackle in the last minute there was no way back.

Alavés were not the only one of this season's UEFA cup teams to be eliminated at this stage though. Betis are also out of the competition after they were beaten 1-0 by Andalucian neighbours Recreativo Huelva. If anything this was a bigger surprise than the defeat of Mané's side, with Betis riding high in the first division table and Recre currently in bottom place. However this was not the team which started the season in such good form, and even with Joaquín and Denilson back together again they hardly created any problems for Luque in the local goal. Xisco hit the woodwork twice, once in each half, and Raúl Molina finally got the ball past Prats near the end after Javi García won the ball off Luis Fernández to cross in. After 113 years of history, the Southern port side were through to their first ever quarter final. It was too much for their manager Lucas Alcaraz, under pressure for so long, and he was shown a second yellow card by the referee near the end for protesting.

There was another unexpected result at Valladolid, where the home side were hopeful having drawn their first leg match 2-2 in Mallorca. However they were hit by a whirlwind going by the name of Carlos ("Carlitos" to his friends), who struck a hat-trick in the first half hour of the match to end any chance they may have had of qualifying. The diminutive striker was getting a rare start due to the suspension of Eto'o, and after scoring his first goal of the season at the weekend, he followed it up by putting his side in front after five minutes with a low shot past Bizzarri. Five minutes later he turned the ball in on the goal line for his second after Pandiani had headed on a corner, and on the half hour mark he ran on to a pass from Pandiani to beat the keeper again. Oscar did get one back after the break, running on to score after Nadal slipped on the cold pitch, but ex Valladolid midfielder Lozano collected a corner from the left to score again for the visitors to round off a 1-4 scoreline.

Holders Deportivo La Coruña had few problems disposing of second division B side Alicante, although there were some nerves for a few minutes when the visitors squared the tie late in the first half with a fantastic long shot from Manolo Pérez which Juanmi got a hand to but couldn't stop. Toro Acuña had given the first division side the lead in the fourth minute with his first goal for his new club, a low shot from the edge of the area after Víctor had headed the ball back, but the goal from Pérez made it level on aggregate after the first leg draw. However Amavisca put the Gallicians back in front on the stroke of half time, getting ahead of the defence to score, and Luque put the fans' minds at rest after the break, winning a penalty when brought down by substitute Green which Diego Tristán converted. The young striker then went on to pick up a through ball from Mauro Silva near the end and score himself to give his side a 4-1 win. During the match Alicante presented a cheque for 30,000 euros to help the fight against the oil tanker spill, representing half the gate money from the first leg.

Atlético Madrid also qualified with relative ease, beating Xerez 3-0. Luis Aragonés rested Fernando Torres, José Marí and a couple of others after the one goal victory in the first leg, but still put out a strong side with Javi Moreno leading the attack. Moreno it was who opened the scoring in the last minute of the first half, running on to Nagore's pass to round keeper Ramón and pick his spot, and he was to get a second goal a few minutes from the end, turning his defender to shoot low into the net. In between Aguilera connected with Stankovic's cross to head past the keeper and get his name on the scoresheet for the first time this season. It was not all Atlético though, with Nagore having to clear two efforts off the line in quick succession and Esteban saving a Mena penalty after Coloccini had brought down the visiting forward. Xerez manager Bernd Schuster was sent off in the first half after getting booked twice for arguing with the referee.

Those Xerez fans who couldn't travel to Madrid could still watch football, as a four match ground closure meant that Sevilla were forced to play their second leg tie against Numancia in the Chapín stadium in Jerez. With a two goal lead from the first leg it was a bit of a formality, and Caparrós used the opportunity to give a run out to some of his lesser used players. Young midfielder Arteaga opened the scoring midway through the first half with a spectacular first time volley from the left of the area, and any doubts anyone might have had about the result were dissipated when Moisés added a second immediately after the restart with a long shot which keeper Alvaro Nuñez should probably have stopped. second half substitute Sestelo did head a consolation goal for the visitors in the last minute though after a cross in from the left, but the Sevilla fans who had made the journey had probably already started the trip home.

If some of the games were a formality, the match between Osasuna and second division B side Real Unión was a bit of a waste of time. The four goals scored by Aguirre's side in the first leg meant that nobody took this game seriously, and both managers put out teams without any first choice players, with youngsters Brit and De Carlos leading the Pamplona side's attack. The visitors did add a spark to the match though when they took the lead in the first half with a silly goal, Josetxo's attempted clearance bouncing back into the net off the head of local defender Jusué after keeper Unzué had left his area but had been tackled on the right touchline by Alberdi. But the visitors were never going to turn the game around and Muñoz made it all square in the last minute, heading into an empty net after new signing Richard Morales, making his debut in the second half, got above the keeper to head on Gancedo's long ball into the area.