Bilbao and Numancia suffer in King's Cup
Primera Liga sides Athletic Bilbao and Numancia suffered narrow defeats against lower ranked opponents in the first legs of their third round King's Cup ties on Wednesday.
Primera Liga sides Athletic Bilbao and Numancia suffered narrow defeats against lower ranked opponents in the first legs of their third round King's Cup ties on Wednesday.
Bilbao, who have won the competition 23 times, slumped to a a 2-1 defeat away to third division Lanzarote, while Primera Liga basement side Numancia were beaten 1-0 at second division promotion hopefuls Elche.
In the only all-Primera Liga tie of the round Osasuna put themselves on course for a place in the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Getafe.
Atletico Madrid bounced back from their 3-0 defeat against city rivals Real Madrid in the league on Sunday with a 3-1 win over third division Lorca.
Atletico took the lead on the stroke of halftime when midfielder Antonio Lopez netted with a superbly struck free kick from 22 metres out, but their modest opponents equalised with an even better goal 18 minutes after the break.
Brazilian midfielder Alejandre picked up the ball on the edge of his own area, raced to the other end and unleashed an unstoppable shot that smashed against the underside of the bar and across the line.
The visitors responded by stepping up a gear and regained the lead 10 minutes before time when defender Pablo Ibanez fired in a powerful header from a corner.
New signing Jesper Gronkjaer capped an impressive performance by setting up his side's final goal with a perfect pass to the feet of striker Braulio to finish off from close range to make it 3-1 three minutes from time.
Real Betis beat Mirandes by the same scoreline, but were given a scare when the third division side took the lead in the first minute of the second half with a spectacular free kick from skipper Rodri.
The Andalucians hit back with quick-fire goals from Edu and Ricardo Oliveira midway through the second half before running out 3-1 winners. In Tuesday's matches third division giant-killers Gramenet, who knocked out Barcelona and Levante in earlier rounds, beat Lleida 2-0 at home, while Primera Liga high-fliers Sevilla beat second division Recreativo Huelva 2-0.
Real Madrid play second division Valladolid on Thursday.