MADRID: Atlético Madrid returned to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey for the first time since 2018 by defeating second-division club Levante 2-0 on Wednesday.
Marcos Llorente scored a goal and set up another by Álvaro Morata to send Atlético through to the last eight and help it rebound from two consecutive games without a win in the Spanish league. Both goals came after the interval after a poor first half by Diego Simeone’s team.
“We struggled early, didn’t even get a shot on goal. It wasn’t our best effort,” Simeone said. “We talked at halftime about playing with the ball. We know these players can play well.”
Atlético had last made it to the Copa quarterfinals in the 2017-18 season, when it lost to Sevilla. It was eliminated by Real Sociedad in the round of 16 last season, and by third-division club Cornellá in the second round two years ago.
Atlético’s letdown in the league left Simeone’s team just holding on to fourth place in the final Champions League spot. It has lost to Barcelona at home and drawn at Almería in the last two rounds.
The Copa looks like the only trophy Atlético can realistically still fight for this season as it trails league leader Barcelona by 13 points near the halfway point.
Levante had eliminated first-division Getafe in the previous round and was unbeaten in its last 17 matches in all competitions.
The other teams already in the last eight are Real Sociedad, Sevilla, Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna.
On Thursday, newly crowned Spanish Super Cup champion Barcelona visits third-division club Ceuta, while Real Madrid is at Villarreal.
DEFENDING CHAMPION OUT
Defending champion Real Betis failed to advance after a 4-2 loss in a penalty shootout against visiting Osasuna.
Sergio Canales and Guido Rodríguez missed their penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation and 2-2 draw in extra time at the Benito Villamarín Stadium in Seville.
Osasuna, sitting in seventh place in the Spanish league behind Betis, twice came from behind to send the game into the shootout.
Osasuna converted all of its penalties to reach the last eight of the Copa for the first time since 2009-10. It last made the semifinals in 2002-03.
CAVANI LEADS VALENCIA
Veteran Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani scored two first-half goals to help Valencia win 4-0 at second-division club Sporting Gijón.
Justin Kluivert and Samuel Lino also scored for the team coached by Gennaro Gattuso, which had won only two of its last 10 matches in all competitions.
Valencia was runner-up to Real Betis in last year’s cup final.
ATHLETIC ADVANCES
Athletic Bilbao got past Espanyol 1-0 with Óscar de Marcos scoring in the 27th and advanced past the round of 16 for the fourth straight season.
Bilbao was a semifinalist last season, and finished second in 2020 and 2021.
Atlético beats Levante 2-0 to return to Copa quarterfinals
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Atlético beats Levante 2-0 to return to Copa quarterfinals
- Levante had eliminated first-division Getafe in the previous round and was unbeaten in its last 17 matches in all competitions
Hosts Morocco off to winning start at Africa Cup of Nations
- Soufiane Rahimi had a penalty saved in a frustrating first half for much-fancied Morocco
- Win saw Morocco, Africa’s best team in FIFA rankings in 11th place, to extend world-record winning run to 19 consecutive matches
RABAT: Brahim Diaz and Ayoub El-Kaabi scored second-half goals as hosts Morocco got their Africa Cup of Nations bid off to a winning start by beating minnows Comoros 2-0 in the tournament’s opening game on Sunday.
Soufiane Rahimi had a penalty saved in a frustrating first half for much-fancied Morocco, but Diaz fired home from inside the area 10 minutes after the interval at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in the capital Rabat.
Substitute El-Kaabi then got the second with a stunning overhead kick, and the victory on a wet and cold night sets the Atlas Lions up for the potentially tougher tests to come in Group A against Mali and Zambia.
The result also allowed Morocco, Africa’s best team in the FIFA rankings in 11th place, to extend their world-record winning run to 19 consecutive matches.
The game was played out before a crowd of 60,180, with Moroccan Crown Prince Moulay Hassan — who appeared on the pitch ahead of kick-off — and FIFA president Gianni Infantino among those in attendance.
Morocco’s star man and captain Achraf Hakimi also ended up watching the entire game from the bench, with coach Walid Regragui preserving the Paris Saint-Germain full-back who has not played since suffering an ankle injury with his club at the start of November.
It looked set to be a long night for Comoros when Morocco won a penalty in the 10th minute as playmaker Diaz was tripped inside the box by Iyad Mohamed.
But Rahimi’s spot-kick was kept out by the legs of Yannick Pandor as the Comoros goalkeeper dived to his right, and the visitors then succeeded in thwarting their more illustrious hosts for the remainder of the first half.
- Stunning overhead kick -
However Morocco, who also saw veteran center-back Romain Saiss come off injured early on, succeeded in breaking down their opponents after half-time.
Comoros, the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago who are 108th in the world rankings, had their resistance ended as the opening goal arrived on 55 minutes.
Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui, starting at right-back with Hakimi not yet quite fully fit, picked up the ball on the right side of the penalty area and squared for Real Madrid’s Spanish-born number 10 Diaz to score.
Morocco, who had seen Neil El Aynaoui almost break the deadlock just before that, then saw space open up although Comoros had a chance of their own as Rafiki Said was denied when clean through on goal.
Mazraoui forced a good save from Pandor before El-Kaabi, of Greek giants Olympiakos, lit up the occasion by meeting a cross in from the left by Anass Salah-Eddine with a magnificent overhead bicycle kick to make it 2-0.
Morocco’s next game will be on Friday against Mali, who begin their campaign by taking on Zambia in Casablanca on Monday.
Elsewhere on Monday, South Africa face Angola in Marrakech before Mohamed Salah’s Egypt — the record seven-time African champions chasing a first title since 2010 — get their bid up and running against outsiders Zimbabwe in Agadir in Group B.
This latest edition of the Cup of Nations is the first to start in one year and end in another, with the final to take place in Rabat on January 18.
