Football
PA Sport 7y

Espanyol eliminated by Alcorcon; Alaves, Celta Vigo, Athletic advance

La Liga mainstays Espanyol were dumped out of the Copa del Rey at the last-32 stage as second-tier Alcorcon forced a penalty shootout victory in Barcelona.

Lowly Alcorcon had clinched a 1-1 draw back in the Madrid suburbs and repeated the scoreline at El Prat as Alvaro Gimenez opened the scoring before a last-gasp leveller from Espanyol's Hernan Perez.

No goals were scored in extra-time and, after sticking away four of their spot-kicks, misses by Gerard Moreno and Jose Manuel Jurado sent Alcorcon through.

Finding that securing passage into the last 16 could be more straightforward on Thursday evening were top-flight clubs Alaves, Celta Vigo and Athletic Bilbao.

Alaves ran out 6-0 aggregate winners over Gimnastic thanks in part to goals from Edgar Mendez and Nenad Krsticic, with Ruben Sobrino converting a penalty after Otar Kakabadze was sent off for the Segunda Division side on the half-hour mark.

Marcelo Diaz scored the only goal as Celta Vigo turned their 1-0 first-leg lead over Murcia into a 2-0 success, while Athletic Bilbao shattered any illusions Racing Santander might have had about building on their impressive performance back in Cantabria.

Having lost only 2-1 earlier in the month, Racing were taught a lesson as Xabier Etxeita, Raul Garcia and Inaki Williams notched to clinch a 5-1 aggregate win.

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