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On Wednesday in Spain, five King's Cup (Copa del Rey) round of 16 matches were played, with no major upsets reported.
La Coruna's "Deportivo" took a big step towards the quarterfinals by defeating Pamplona's "Osasuna" 3-0 at home. The victory against last season's finalists was celebrated after goals from Pedro Munitis and Juan Carlos Valeron in the first half, and a fantastic goal from Lionel Scaloni from 30 meters at the end of the match.
Valencia also confidently moved towards the quarterfinals by defeating "Villarreal" 2-0 away. The visitors took the lead after Uruguayan Mario Regueiro's individual run into the penalty area at the beginning of the second half. Spain international striker David Villa doubled the lead in the second half with a penalty earned by himself.
The current Cup holders, Sevilla's "Betis" players, secured a 1-1 draw away against Vigo's "Celta". The visitors fell behind after Jesus Perera successfully converted a penalty he earned, but with 10 minutes left in the match, Matias Lequi scored an own goal to equalize.
One of the most exciting matches took place in Cadiz, where the home team celebrated a victory against "Sevilla" in a thrilling encounter with five goals. Around an hour into the match, it seemed that "Cadiz" was on their way to the quarterfinals, but two late goals from Frederic Kanoute in the closing minutes of the match put "Sevilla" in a great position: due to two away goals, "Sevilla" only needed a 1-0 or 2-1 victory in the return leg.
In a tight match, Barcelona's "Espanyol" secured a minimal 1-0 victory away against Madrid's "Getafe" players. The only goal of the match was scored in the 85th minute by defender Daniel Jarque. "Getafe" players can only blame themselves for the loss, as forwards Daniel Guiza and Veljko Paunovic failed to score from the penalty spot before that.
The match between Madrid's "Atletico" and "Zaragoza" was postponed after fourteen players from the Spanish capital team suffered a severe gastroenteritis attack.
Meanwhile, in the cup matches played on Tuesday, "Barcelona" came from behind to celebrate a 3-1 victory against "Zamora" from the third division away, while Madrid's "Real" narrowly defeated Bilbao's "Athletic" players away and secured the first victory at "San Mames" stadium since 1998.
The second leg matches will be played next week.
Results of Wednesday:
Villarreal 0 - 2 Valencia 54` [0 - 1] Mario Regueiro 66` [0 - 2] David Villa (pen.)
Madrid 0 - 1 Barcelona 85` [0 - 1] Daniel Jarque
Celta 1 - 1 Sevilla 22` [1 - 0] Jesus Perera (pen.) 79` [1 - 1] Matias Lequi (own goal)
La Coruna 3 - 0 Osasuna 11` [1 - 0] Pedro Munitis 45` [2 - 0] Juan Carlos Valeron 86` [3 - 0] Lionel Scaloni
Cadiz 3 - 2 Sevilla 25` [1 - 0] Nenad Mirosavljevic 27` [2 - 0] Alexander Medina 59` [3 - 0] Marti (own goal) 70` [3 - 1] Frederic Kanoute 88` [3 - 2] Frederic Kanoute
