Madrid: Antoine Griezmann scored one and set up another but could not prevent Atletico Madrid tumbling out of the Copa del Rey as Girona progressed on away goals after a thrilling 3-3 draw, Wednesday
Real Madrid and Sevilla each avoided upsets, their first-leg victories proving enough despite losses to Leganes and Athletic Bilbao respectively.
Defeat for Real, however, means they have now won only two of their five matches this year while Santiago Solari’s frosty relationship with Isco shows no signs of improvement. Isco started the game, but struggled, and was replaced in the 68th minute.
A sumptuous volley from Valery Fernandez and Cristhian Stuani’s header had put Girona in charge after Nikola Kalinic had given Atletico an early lead at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Griezmann came off the bench in the second half and turned the tie in their favour, teeing up Angel Correa and then scoring himself to give his team a 3-2 lead at a rocking Wanda Metropolitano.
But Girona pulled out one more surprise to go through to the quarterfinals as Seydou Doumbia’s shot found the corner of the in the 88th minute, snatching a 4-4 draw on aggregate after last week’s first leg finished 1-1. They advanced as they scored more goals in the ‘away’ tie.
Real were beaten 0-1 by Leganes, Martin Braithwaite giving hope to the hosts, who failed to take a number of chances to launch an unlikely comeback. Real had won the first leg 3-0. “We got through but the performance was weak,” Solari said.
His team now turn their attention to Saturday’s crunch La Liga game against Sevilla, who slipped to a 0-1 defeat at home to Athletic Bilbao. Gorka Guruzeta scored the winner for a rejuvenated Bilbao side but Sevilla still progressed 3-2 on aggregate.
AFP
