Fourth round

Matches played on 9th November

All four first division clubs made it through to the last sixteen tonight, although not without problems. Athletic Bilbao were losing at the break to L'Hospitalet in a match which had to be moved to a rainy Sabadell after the Basques refused to play on the Catalan club's artificial pitch, but they came back to win 1-3 in the end. Cárcel took advantage of a hesitant defence to lob Aranzubia and put the locals ahead five minutes before the break, but Yeste came on for an injured Julen Guerrero and turned a Javi González cross past keeper Sergio Morán to level the scores ten minutes after the restart. Llorente scored two more within the next seven minutes, the first with a chip over the keeper and the second with a header from Javi González's corner, to give Javier Clemente his first win since taking over as coach a few days ago.

Getafe fell behind twice against Lleida, but a Paunovic hat-trick took them through 2-4 victory in extra time. Luiz Carlos gave the Catalan side the lead when he headed Lanzarote's cross past Calatayud on the half hour mark, and although Paunovic equalised with a looping header four minutes later, Luiz Carlos restored the lead almost immediately with another header from a corner. The home side held on until ten minutes from the end, but Paunovic headed home another corner to take the game into extra time. Güiza rounded Eduardo to put the Madrid based side in front, and Paunovic squeezed a shot inside the near post to complete his hat-trick and put the result beyond doubt just eight minutes in to the prologue. And Lleida ended with ten men when Luiz Carlos was shown a straight red card near the end.

Celta looked like they were being taken to a penalty shoot-out by Baza until Fernando Baiano came on to give them a 0-1 victory with virtually the last kick of the match. After the Granada based club knocked out Málaga in the last round, manager Fernando Vázquez took his rivals seriously and put out a strong side, only resting Pinto and Baiano from his regular line up. At the beginning the Galacians bettered their opponents, with Canobbio and Jonathan bringing good saves out of Emilio in the first half. But the home side held their own, with Víctor testing Esteban after the restart and Curtido rounding the keeper only to shoot wide near the end of normal time. Vázquez brought on Baiano for the extra thirty minutes though, and with penalties looking likely the Brazilian striker fired a shot past the keeper from the edge of the area to shatter the dreams of the local fans.

The only first division side to win without too much stress was Cádiz, who beat Burgos 0-2 with two goals in the first half of the match. The Andalusians took the lead in only the fourth minute when Benjamín finished off after keeper Cabrero couldn't hold on to Iván Anía's free kick, and Sorribas cleared an effort from Anía off the line with the keeper beaten soon afterwards. Obolo put reserve keeper Navas to the test at the other end with a shot from outside of the area midway through the first half, but before half time the first division side were two up when De la Cuesta headed a Manolo Pérez free kick past Cabrero. The locals almost got one back when Berizzo almost put through his own net after the restart, but Mirosavljevic could have scored a third when he headed against the bar late on.

One second division B side at least will be in the draw for the next round though, Zamora beating Eibar 5-4 on penalties after their match finished 1-1. Despite knocking Real Sociedad out of the competition (also on penalties) in the last round, the Castilla-León side had changed their manager in the last couple of days after they fell to the bottom of their regional group table. New coach Raúl González saw his team fall behind on the quarter hour mark when Iñigo picked up a long pass from Jaime to score, but Chus Herrera equalised with a twice taken penalty early in the second half after César fouled the midfielder. The game went to penalties, where Viches proved to be the hero, saving from Juanlu and Borrell and scoring the winning spot kick himself. Curiously the keeper was sent off in the last round and it was his replacement José Luis who did the same in that match.

The ties Alcoyano versus Atlético Madrid, and Xerez versus Zaragoza have been postponed to 30th November as both first division sides have players on international duty. The seven survivors will join the nine clubs who qualified for Europe in the next round, which will be played over two legs at the beginning of January. (09.11.05)

Matches played on 30th November

Wins for the two first division sides in the remaining ties for the fourth round of the Spanish Cup, and Zamora will be the only side from the lower divisions who will be in next week's last 16 draw. Atlético Madrid beat second division B side Alcoyano 0-1, although Carlos Bianchi's team suffered in the final minutes to hang on to their lead. The coach put out a strong line up, but the physical play of their opponents kept them under tabs early on and long balls looking for sole striker Mesa caused some problems for Leo Franco. Gradually though the first division side took control, with Fernando Torres and Ibagaza both going close either side of half time. And twenty minutes in to the second half substitute Maxi picked up a loose ball in the area and rounded his marker to score. Youngster Mario should have added a second, but the Alcante based home side almost forced extra time when Angel and then Barselleta sent efforts just wide of goal.

Zaragoza won through on a penalty shoot out for the second round in a row after their game with Xerez finished 2-2. Víctor Muñoz needed to win to hold on to his job, and his side started well, Ewerthon putting them in front early on with a shot over the head of keeper Tete. However Alex Fernández came close to equalising a couple of times before Colorado picked up a pass from Francis to level the scores early in the second half. Ewerthon restored the lead a few minutes later when he headed home Ponzio's free kick, but Guille scored again for the Andalusians in the last minute to take the game into extra time (by then coach Lucas Alcaraz's nerves had failed him and he had been sent off by the referee for protesting). With no further goals the match went to the shoot out, and after eight penalties each Valbuena finally saved Iván Rosado's spot kick to take his side through 6-7. (30.11.05)