First round

Match played on 7th October

Tragedy in the first round of the Spanish cup, where a supporter of Deportivo La Coruña died on Tuesday night after being attacked by a group of thugs wearing Depor colours for trying to protect a young Compostela fan. All grounds held a minute's silence for the victim on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

The incident came after the match which Deportivo had won 0-1 against their second division B rivals. Irureta had put out a reserve side, and with Munitis injured he had given a first game of the season to the transfer listed Djalminha. However Depor were under pressure for much of the time, and the only goal came from Diego Tristán ten minutes from the end.

Deportivo's match was one of six which was brought forward a day to allow international players to take part before joining their national sides. Little good it did Athletic Bilbao though, whose elimination at the hands of Gimnastica Torrelavega was the only surprise of the day. Gimnastica are currently lying bottom of their group in the second division B, but they came from behind to win with a goal from Javi in injury time. Tiko had put the Basque side ahead in the second half with his fourth in consecutive games, but they let their opponents off the hook and Delgado equalised before Javi's late strike.

The match in Compostela was not the only one that was influenced by crowd trouble though. The tie between Castellón and Valencia had to be abandoned seven minutes before the end after referee Téllez Sánchez had been cut on the head by a battery from a mobile phone thrown from the very aggressive local crowd. The home side had taken the lead in the first half through Marcos, but Baraja had headed an equaliser after the break, and Téllez had just awarded a penalty to the first division side which Baraja was about to take when the incident occurred. The disciplinary committee must now decide if and when the remaining few minutes will be played out.

It was a difficult night for the top clubs though, and only Real Madrid made it through without too many problems. They lined up with a much depleted side, but even so beat third division side San Sebastian de los Reyes 0-3. Only Raúl, Roberto Carlos and Pavón lined up from the first choice players, and it was Raúl who gave them the lead before the break. Portillo and Cambiasso scored two more in the second half, and Madrid ended the game with ten home-grown players on the park after B team youngsters Jordi and Riki were given a run out. A comfortable win, although it was nowhere near the 1-8 scoreline from the season before.

Barcelona were the first to bring their game forward so they could put out a strong side, but even so they struggled to beat Gramanet 0-1 on their artificial pitch. Aaron Bueno hit the woodwork twice for the second division B side, and Rijkaard eventually had to turn to Ronaldinho, who he had left on the bench nursing an injury. The Brazilian superstar won it for them in the end with an individualist goal in the 84th minute, but then limped off and may be out for a couple of weeks as a result.

Villarreal had trouble beating Alicante 1-2, and it was only thanks to an injury time penalty from Víctor that they went through. Riquelme had put the first division side ahead early in the second half, but Sendoa beat López Vallejo with a free kick soon afterwards to level the scores. Floro took off Riquelme though to bring on José Marí, and it was the ex Atlético forward who won the penalty for his side when brought down by Torres. (07.10.03)

Matches played on 8th October

Twenty four ties took place on Wednesday evening, and for the first time under the new format there were no surprise eliminations of first division clubs. All twelve kicking off today passed the test, although many suffered right to the end and Celta only got through on penalties at Pontevedra. The Galicians fell behind to a Manu Busto goal in the sixth minute, and although Jandro equalised before the break, the first division side were left with ten men midway through the second half when Contreras got himself sent off. Pontevedra had a goal disallowed near the end of extra time, and the game went into the penalty shoot out which Celta won 4-5 after Pinto saved Padín's last kick.

It took an injury time goal as well from Real Sociedad substitute Gabilondo to see his side through 1-2 against twice relegated Oviedo. The Asturians are now languishing down in the third division, and they were overrun in the first half by a Real side in which the only first choice players to start were Aranburu and De Pedro. Barkero put the Basques ahead midway through the first half and it looked like they were on for an easy win. But Granada made it all square after the break and Denoueix's men struggled until Gabilondo got them out of the fire with his last minute strike.

Espanyol manager Javier Clemente was missing ten of his first team squad between injuries and international commitments, and had to call up reinforcements from his B team for the match at Elche. And in the end it was one of the youngsters, Spanish under 19 international Corominas, who hit the winner two minutes from the end to give them a 2-3 victory. The Catalans had gone two up with goals early in the second half from Bobson and Raúl Molina, but their opponents had come back with strikes from Nino and Velasco later on to level the scores. Zárate got himself sent off though for the locals, and a minute later Corominas struck to give his side their first victory in the new campaign.

Atlético Madrid also won their first match of the season, beating Conquense 2-3 to take some of the pressure off Gregorio Manzano. The manager put out a strong side, missing only Fernando Torres who was on international duty, and they took the lead in the first minute with Rodrigo's first goal for his new club. Héctor equalised for the Cuenca based side, but Rodrigo scored a spectacular second and Musampa made it three before the break. As usual though Atleti suffered in the end, and after Ortíz gave away a penalty which Castillejo converted, keeper Juanma had to save the day in the closing minutes.

Another manager to breath a sigh of relief was Fernando Vázquez, whose Valladolid side bounced back from their thrashing at the weekend to beat Zamora 0-2. After a first half in which they were matched by the second division B side, the visitors finally made their presence felt with two goals on the breakaway, Fernando Sales using his pace to outstrip the defence and score the first and Pachón adding a second later on.

Málaga were another side to be taken to the limit by a second division B team, and they only just scraped through 0-1 at Ceuta thanks to a Salva strike in extra time, and that despite the fact that Juande Ramos put out a full strength line up. The North Africans gave Arnau more than one fright but didn't take their chances, and Salva punished them when he got on the end of Leko's free kick twelve minutes in to time added on.

Mirandés were another second division B side to hold on right until the end before losing 1-2 to Zaragoza, and that despite playing the last half hour with ten men after Iván Agustín was sent off. The locals had several chances to go ahead early on before Soriano headed the first division side into the lead following a corner on the stroke of half time. But Tino equalised with a quarter of an hour to go, and just when it appeared that the game was going to extra time, substitute Iban Espadas struck the winner.

A similar story as well at Lorca, where Real Murcia went through 1-2 after David Karanka headed the winner in the 87th minute. Joaquín Peiró put out a strong side against the local rivals, and Setvalls beat Campos with a long shot to put the visitors ahead on the half hour mark. But Jaime squared it after the restart, and the 6,000 fans were looking forward to an extra 30 minutes when Karanka sank their hopes.

Mallorca's caretaker manager Tomeu Llomparte used the occasion to give a first start to new signings Ligüera, Correa and Nené, and they took their opportunity well as their side ran out 2-4 winners over Sabadell. The home side felt they should have had a penalty in the second minute, but play went up the other end and Ligüera took advantage of a bad back pass to put the Islanders ahead. Then Correa made it two later in the first half, and the game was already as good as won. Camacho got one back for the Catalans after the break only a minute after coming on, but Llomparte brought on Eto'o and he set up Correa soon afterwards to restore the two goal lead. Camacho headed a second goal for the locals, but Correa completed his hat-trick a quarter of an hour from the end to take the reigning champions through to the second round.

Tote also took his opportunity to make himself a spot in the Betis line up with two goals late in the game at Badajoz. Víctor Fernández had taken no chances with the undefeated second division B side, and put out his best available team, missing only Joaquín and Juanito who were on international duty. Denilson and Capi gave the Andalucians a two goal lead by half time, but Sergio Cruz pulled one back before Tote came on for Palermo to make his mark and give his side a 1-4 victory.

A goal in the first minute from on-form striker Bodipo gave Racing Santander a 0-1 win over Barakaldo. The Cantabrians should have increased the lead five minutes from the end from the penalty spot after Llorca brought down Bodipo, but the keeper made up for his mistake by saving Benayoun's spot kick. It was the fourth penalty in three games that Racing have failed to score from, and it could have cost them the match as Galder went close to equalising for the Basque side.

Osasuna had no trouble seeing off last year's giant killers Real Unión by 0-2, even though Javier Aguirre put out a side containing eleven reserve players. Gorka García fired them into the lead midway through the first half, and a second goal came twenty minutes from the end, local keeper Vallejo deflecting the ball into his own net after Webó's shot came back off the crossbar. Galiano almost got a late consolation for the Irún based side when he hit the post at the end.

So far only two sides from the second division B have reached the second round, Gimnastica, who beat Athletic yesterday, and Lanzarote, who won 4-2 against Poli Ejido. The game was even up to the last ten minutes, but a penalty from Salva and a late strike by Raúl Sala swung it for the Canary Islanders.

The other three sides from the second division B were knocked out by sides from the second division A, although not without a fight and Algeciras for example were taken to extra time by Vecindario before a Zárate penalty (after a foul on Zárate by Chano Ramos) gave them a 0-1 win.

Xerez also struggled to beat Cacereño 1-2, and they have a goal in each half by Mena to thank for their victory. The Andalucians ended the match though with ten men after Herrero was sent off, and a late penalty by Joaquín gave them a nervous last few minutes.

Alavés had even more problems, and the Vitoria based side had to go to a penalty shoot out to beat a Racing Ferrol team who ended with nine men. Pablo had equalised Ibon Begoña's strike earlier in the second half, and the referee had sent off Fabiano for the locals in the 83rd minute and then Ferrol's Alberto and Alavés defender Sietes in extra time. The game ended 1-1, and both keepers Bello Amigo and Juan Pablo saved two penalties in the shoot out which ended 1-2 after Kiko scored with the final kick.

Away wins were expected in the games between teams of different levels, but that should not have been the case in the eight ties between second division A teams. However the trend continued, and no less than seven of the games ended with victories for the visitors. In fact the only team to win at home were Salamanca, who beat Rayo Vallecano 1-0 thanks to a strike from Escoda on the quarter hour mark.

The other team relegated last year, last year's defeated cup finalists Recreativo Huelva, are also out after losing on penalties to high flying Almería. Even though the visitors played almost an hour with ten men after Pignol was sent off, the game ended 0-0, and Enguix, Toedtli and Viqueira all missed their penalties as Almería ran out 2-3 winners.

Leganés won their Madrid derby match with neighbours Getafe 1-2 thanks to two goals from Pablo Rodríguez. The ex Nice midfielder headed in Txiki's pass in the seventh minute, and struck the winner in the second half after Alberto had levelled the scores.

Both of the 2A Canary Island sides are out despite playing at home, leaving Lanzarote to carry the flag for them. Tenerife were beaten 0-1 by second division leaders Cádiz, the only goal coming from a Jonathan Sesma penalty in the first half of extra time. The locals ended the game with ten men after Roberto Carlos was sent off in the dying minutes.

Las Palmas are also out after they lost 1-2 to Córdoba, and they have yet to win in their new Gran Canaria stadium. Changui seemed to have put them on the way with a goal midway through the second half, but Pulpo González equalised later in the half and then headed the winner in extra time. Fleurquín was sent off for the visitors near the end.

Sporting Gijon were beaten 0-1 by Eibar, even though the home side put out their best line up and the visitors played with a team packed with reserves. Cuevas got the only goal six minutes from the end following a pass by Garitano.

A second half penalty by Rivera after Morales brought down Congo was enough to give Levante a 0-1 win at Terrassa. It was a fitting revenge for the Valencia based side, who were knocked out of the competition last season by the Catalans.

Finally Ciudad de Murcia kept up their recent good form with a 0-1 win at Numancia. The only goal came from Aguilar midway through the second half, giving the town two sides in the second round of the competition. (08.10.03)

Matches played on 9th October

The last two games took place on Thursday night, with Sevilla hitting the biggest score of the round, 1-7 at Cerro Reyes. Hornos returned from injury to make his debut and score three and his Uruguayan team mate Darío Silva got two more, with Javi Navarro and Antoñito also on the scoresheet. Local keeper Poli was given a second yellow card and was sent off in the tunnel at half time with the visitors already three goals up, and Barragán got a late consolation goal for the hosts in the last minute.

Albacete were beaten though 1-0 by second division B side Cultural Leonesa, only the second team from the top flight to be eliminated. Manager César Ferrando put out a line up full of reserves and paid the price, Adriano heading the only goal for the locals shortly before half time. Brazilian striker Cacá was sent off for the visitors in injury time. (09.10.03)

Matches played on 22nd October

The match between Castellón and Valencia carried on behind locked doors some two weeks after it was abandoned when referee Téllez Sánchez was hit by an object thrown from the crowd. The disciplinary committee ruled that the remaining seven minutes would have to be played out, starting with the penalty kick which the referee had awarded just before the game was called off. And although Mista missed the kick, Valencia went on to score two more through Baraja and Canobbio to run out 1-3 winners. (22.10.03)