Second-half goals from Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal gave Barcelona a hard-fought 2-0 victory over second-tier leaders Racing Santander in the Copa del Rey on Thursday, sending them into the quarter-finals.
In a tightly contested match, the breakthrough came in the 66th minute when Torres timed his run perfectly to beat the offside trap and latched onto a through ball before rounding goalkeeper Jokin Ezkieta and finishing into an empty net.
Deep in stoppage time, after Racing’s Manex Lozano missed a sitter from close range, Barcelona didn’t waste the chance to put the game to bed with Yamal finishing a quick counter attack.
Barcelona join Athletic Bilbao, Alaves, Albacete, Atletico Madrid, Real Betis, Real Sociedad and Valencia in the last eight. The Spanish FA will conduct the quarter-final draw on Monday, with ties scheduled for February 3-5.
Determined to avoid a similar fate to Real Madrid, who were stunned by lower-league Albacete on Wednesday, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick fielded a near full-strength team at El Sardinero Stadium.
The visitors dominated possession early on but found Racing to be resolute opponents. Dani Olmo wasted a golden chance, while Barcelona goalkeeper Joan Garcia reacted smartly to deny Racing’s Camara Suleiman in a lively opening half.
After Torres scored the opener in the 66th minute, Ezkieta made successive superb saves late on, denying Fermin Lopez and substitute Robert Lewandowski from close range in the 80th minute, keeping Racing’s hopes alive.
The hosts thought they had equalized twice in the dying moments, only for both goals to be ruled out for offside.
Racing substitute Lozano had a golden chance to equalize, sprinting forward on a counter-attack. However, he opted to shoot from close range rather than pass to an unmarked teammate, allowing Garcia to make a save.
Barcelona punished the missed opportunity in the very next play. Raphinha’s low cross found Yamal, who slotted home to seal the win and Barcelona’s progression into the final eight.
Barcelona reach quarter-finals of Copa del Rey with 2-0 win
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Barcelona reach quarter-finals of Copa del Rey with 2-0 win
- The Spanish FA will conduct the quarter-final draw on Monday, with ties scheduled for February 3-5
Siniakova ends Andreeva Indian Wells defense in third round
- Siniakova, a former doubles number one, will face either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or American Ashlyn Krueger for a place in the quarter-finals
INDIAN WELLS, United States: Unseeded Katerina Siniakova ended a frustrated Mirra Andreeva’s Indian Wells title defense on Monday, rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the eighth-ranked Russian.
The 18-year-old Andreeva had opened her repeat bid with an imperious 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Solana Sierra.
But she was in trouble early and often against 44th-ranked Siniakova in a rollercoaster contest that featured seven service breaks for each player and 43 break chances between them.
When she sailed a swinging volley long to surrender the second set, Andreeva threw her racquet in disgust.
She regrouped to break Siniakova for a 3-2 lead in the third, but Siniakova won the next four games.
The Czech saved a pair of break points in the final game before sealing the match with a shot that struck the net cord and dribbled over as Andreeva could only watch, disappointment sparking another outburst from the Russian as she departed the court.
Siniakova, a former doubles number one, will face either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or American Ashlyn Krueger for a place in the quarter-finals.
In other early matches, fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula shook off a slow start to beat Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Pegula, coming off her fourth career WTA 1000 title at Dubai last month, fired 11 aces with just one double fault as she rallied for the win.
“I think today I had to kind of snap myself back and kind of lock in to not let that get away from me,” said Pegula, who said she was in danger of letting negativity and frustration get the better of her.
“I didn’t think I was playing bad. It was just letting a couple chances, couple breaks here and there (get away), maybe a couple shots that I could have been more aggressive on.”
Later on Stadium Court, world number two Iga Swiatek took on Greece’s Maria Sakkari — the woman she beat in the Indian Wells finals in 2022 and 2024.
Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, who lifted the Indian wells Trophy in 2023, played Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final match of the night.
