Madrid, Dec 20 (IANS) Athletic Club Bilbao overcame a 0-1 first leg defeat to book their place in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey football knockout competition with a convincing 4-0 win at home over Celta Vigo.
Bilbao knew a goal from their visitors would mean they needed to score three goals. But the Basque side, currently fourth in the Primera Liga, produced a confident display Thursday to dominate the game.
Iker Muniain opened the scoring and levelled the tie with a lovely curling shot in the 22nd minute. Markel Susaeta‘s goal in the last minute of the first half put the home side ahead on aggregate.
Athletic totally dominated the second half, but it was not until the 80th minute that Muniain made the tie safe and Aduriz added a fourth goal five minutes from time to seal another fine display.
In other games, Rayo Vallecano were able to forget their problems in the league as two goals from Adrian Gonzalez and a smart finish from Alberto Bueno saw them come back from a goal down to beat Valladolid 3-1.
Javi Guerra, who scored a hat-trick at the weekend, had put Valladolid ahead as the first leg ended 0-0, but Rayo’s constant attacks were rewarded with a place in the last 16.
Valencia, who sacked coach Miroslav Djukic Monday, beat Gimnastic Tarragona 1-0 in the Mestalla Stadium.
Paco Alcacer scored the only goal of the game and it would have been a greater margin of victory had Helder Postiga, who has not scored since Sept. 1, not seen a penalty saved two minutes from time and Valencia keeper, Vicente Guaita was forced to make a good save in the last minute of injury time to keep his side in the competition.
Espanyol had fewer problems in beating Jaen 2-0 on the night to qualify 4-2 on aggregate against the second division side.
Simao Sabrosa and central defender Sidnei Rechel scored the goals to book the Barcelona based side a place in the next round.
