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Copa del Rey

Fourth round, second leg

La Copa "Tweets"

No real surprises in the first four games of the second leg of the cup, except perhaps Mallorca's 0-2 win away at Sporting Gijón. The Asturians were favourites after winning the first leg in the San Moix stadium 0-1, but an early own goal by young left back Alex Menéndez levelled the scores, and Nsue got the winner in the second half. Defending champions Real Madrid had no problems seeing off Ponferradina 5-1, with Callejón scoring twice and Sahin, Varane and Joselu the other scorers, and Sevilla beat another 2B side San Roque de Lepe 2-1, Kanouté getting two in the second half (including a penalty) before Adri got a late consolation for the visitors. Espanyol are also through to the last 16 after a 4-2 win over Celta, helped to a certain extent by a red card for an "ex" of theirs Quique De Lucas early on. Goals by Weiss, Alvaro, Sergio García and Hugo Mallo (in his own net) put the result beyond the reach of the Galicians, despite two from David Rodríguez. (20.12.11)

Some unexpected results on Wednesday, not least of which Atlético Madrid's elimination from the cup by second division B side Albacete. The negative atmosphere in the Calderón stadium was not helped by a goal from Víctor Curto with only twenty seconds on the clock, and that was how it stayed in what must certainly be Gregorio Manzano's last match in charge. One manager who has certainly gone though is Villarreal's Juan Carlos Garrido, who was fired minutes after his side were beaten 0-2 by another 2B team, Mirandés. After their humiliating exit from the Champions League, the cup was all they had left. Two other lower division teams are also through to the last 16, Córdoba knocking out neighbours Betis on the away goal rule despite a 2-1 defeat on the night, and Alcorcón reminding us of their epic win against Real Madrid with another "Alcorconazo" , this time after a 0-2 victory at the first division's bottom club Zaragoza. Javier Aguirre is another coach we may not see it through to the new year. One second division team who will not be in Friday's draw though, despite a 3-1 first leg victory, is Deportivo, who lost 4-1 at Levante. With the tie level Pablo Alvarez missed a last minute penalty for the Galicians, and Koné got the winner in extra time. Otherwise though it went more or less according to form, with wins for Athletic Bilbao, Málaga, Osasuna, Racing Santander and Real Sociedad. That leaves two matches for Thursday night, Barcelona v L'Hospitalet, and Valencia v Cádiz, after which there will be a two week break until the fifth round resumes in the first week of January. (21.12.11)

Barcelona and Valencia took heed of the warnings given by the likes of Albacete and Mirandés on Wednesday, and both coaches put out stronger than expected line-ups for their games against second division B sides on Thursday. Neither had any problems though, with Barcelona in particular clocking up a massive 9-0 win against L'Hospitalet, the highest scoreline to date under Guardiola. Pedro scored the first from the penalty spot and Iniesta, Thiago, Xavi and youngster Tello (who came on for the injured Iniesta) added four more before the break. And after the restart there were two more from Cuenca, another from Tello and a second penalty from Thiago. Earlier in the evening Valencia saw off Cádiz with a 4-0 victory, the goals coming from Víctor Ruíz, Jonas and Soldado before the interval, and Ever Banega afterwards. The Andalusians had held them to a 0-0 draw in the first leg. The unseeded fifth round draw takes place tomorrow, with four teams from the lower ranks hoping to pull one of the big names out of the hat. (22.12.11)