La Liga

Villarreal Shocks Valencia in Copa Del Rey

Villarreal and Atletico Madrid set up two intriguing Copa Del Rey quarter-final ties after respective aggregate victories against Valencia and Espanyol.

Goalless heading into their return at the Madrigal, Valencia scored two early goals through Banega (5) and Roberto Soldado (23) and looked to be heading to the quarter-finals. But Villarreal produced a remarkable comeback, scoring four times Santi Cazorla, Giuseppe Rossi, Marco Ruben and then Rossi again to complete a remarkable comeback and earn a quarter-final match-up with Sevilla.

Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 at Espanyol to progress 2-1 on aggregate, Sergio Agüero’s thumping finish on 25 minutes only cancelled out in added time via Luis García’s free-kick. Atletico will meet cross-town rivals Real Madrid as Real followed up their 8-0 first-leg stroll against Levante with a meaningless 2-0 away defeat.

Almería followed up their 4-3 first-leg success at home to Mallorca by winning by the same scoreline in their return, though the visitors had led 4-0 at the break with two goals apiece from Pablo Piatti and Juanma Ortiz. Almería face Deportivo La Coruna next.

Real Betis produced the shock of the round by beating Getafe 3-1 to go through 4-3 on aggregate.  Real Betis reward is a tie against Barcelona.