Buonanotte spares Malaga's blushes in cup
Reuters - Tuesday 08 January 2013, 20:42
Valencia eased past La Liga rivals Osasuna into the quarter-finals of
the King's Cup on Tuesday, while Malaga flirted with danger against
third-tier Eibar before a flurry of late goals put them safely into the
last eight.
Valencia will
play 2011 winners Real Madrid or Celta Vigo for a place in the
semi-finals, with Celta holding a 2-1 advantage from last month's last
16, first leg ahead of their visit to the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Malaga
are facing a probable last-eight clash with holders Barcelona, who host
Cordoba on Thursday having won their first leg 2-0 at the
second-division Andalusian club.
Valencia
went into their second leg against Pamplona-based Osasuna with a 2-0
lead and were cruising at a half-empty Mestalla when Tino Costa smashed
in a free-kick to open the scoring in the 34th minute.
However,
Joseba Llorente pulled a goal back with a powerful low drive three
minutes later and both sides squandered a number of chances before
substitute Roberto Soldado struck with the last kick of the game for a
2-1 victory that sent Valencia through 4-1 on aggregate.
In
the earlier kick-off at Malaga's Rosaleda stadium, Argentine midfielder
Diego Buonanotte saved the Andalusian club from potential humiliation
when he scored twice and created another in a 4-1 comeback win against
lowly Eibar.
Lying second in
their regional section of the Segunda B division and never having played
in the top flight, Eibar knocked out 2012 finalists Athletic Bilbao in
the previous round and held Malaga to a 1-1 draw at their tiny Ipurua
stadium in the Basque Country in the first leg.
They
took a surprise lead in the 12th minute of the return game when Ruben
Arroyo was quickest to the rebound from a long-range Mikel Arruabarrena
effort and goalkeeper Carlos Kameni could only deflect his weak shot
into the net.
With Malaga
fielding a weakened side, Eibar held on relatively comfortably until the
74th minute when Buonanotte exchanged passes with Javier Saviola and
struck the ball high past Eibar keeper Xabi Iruretagoiena.
Two
minutes later, Buonanotte set up Seba Fernandez to make it 2-1 on the
night and substitute Francisco Portillo glanced a header into the net
from a Nacho Monreal centre in the 82nd minute as the visitors' defences
crumbled.
Their misery was
complete when Guillermo Roldan was shown a straight red card four
minutes from time and Buonanotte scored his second in added time to make
it 5-2 on aggregate and set up a quarter-final meeting with holders
Barcelona or Cordoba.
MATURITY, PATIENCE
"Nobody thought it was going to be easy," Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini told a news conference.
"They are a team with a lot of confidence and they are having a great season," the Chilean added.
"Above
all in the final 20 minutes we made the most of the space to win the
game. It was tough but there was a maturity and patience there to
achieve the result."
Sevilla
are virtually assured of a place in the last eight after they won their
first leg at Real Mallorca 5-0 and host the Balearic Islanders on
Wednesday before Real Zaragoza seek to maintain a 1-0 advantage at home
to Levante.
Atletico Madrid
have a 3-0 advantage over Getafe when they play their second leg on
Thursday, while Real Betis and Las Palmas, another second-division side,
drew 1-1 in their first leg and also meet on Thursday.