Substitutes Marco Asensio and Isco ensured Real Madrid avoided more Copa del Rey embarrassment against Alcoyano as the LaLiga leaders battled to a 3-1 victory in the round-of-32 tie.
Madrid were on the end of one of the greatest shocks in Spanish football history 12 months ago when losing to the same third-tier opponents at Estadio El Collao.
Eder Militao gave Madrid the lead late in the first half of Wednesday's clash, just like he did in last year's meeting, only for Dani Vega to hit back in style for the hosts.
But Carlo Ancelotti's side, who were without Karim Benzema, Thibaut Courtois, Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior, regained the lead through Asensio's heavily deflected strike 14 minutes from time before Isco's poked effort went in off goalkeeper Jose Juan to seal progression.
Alcoyano eliminated LaLiga's bottom side Levante in the last round and started strongly against Madrid, with Dani Vega testing stand-in keeper Andriy Lunin early on.
Eduardo Camavinga blocked a goal-bound shot soon after and the lively Vega had a penalty appeal turned down after being sent to the ground by Militao.
The game soon settled down and Madrid edged in front from their first attempt on target, Militao getting in front of Jose Juan to head in Rodrygo's corner.
Madrid never looked truly settled and Vega levelled up the game after driving into the box, cutting back inside past the chasing Casemiro and curling a shot away from Lunin.
But the visitors, whose 15-match unbeaten run was ended by Getafe last weekend, soon woke up and were back in front when Asensio's shot from the edge of the area, set up by Eden Hazard, took a big deflection and left Jose Juan wrong-footed.
Fellow substitute Isco thought he had himself got on the scoresheet two minutes later, but it went down as an own goal as the last touch from his prodded effort came off the veteran keeper.
Juventus withdraw from European Super League and request to re-join ECA
Juventus have confirmed their withdrawal from the European Super League project and requested to rejoin the European Club Association (ECA).
Juve were one of 12 European clubs that signed up to form a breakaway Super League in April 2021, a plan that sparked widespread protests from fans.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Milan and Inter were also part of the original breakaway group.
As a result of the announcement, those teams were also excluded from the ECA.
However, following the backlash from supporters and threats of sanctions by UEFA, nine of the clubs backed out swiftly, with the project collapsing within 72 hours.
They were then readmitted to the ECA, and in July 2023, Juventus began the process of pulling out of the European Super League.
ECA chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi said on Saturday: "I am pleased to report that Juventus has requested to re-join ECA, which will be formalised shortly.
"ECA's door is always open to clubs who believe in collective interests, progressive reform and working constructively with all stakeholders – we are delighted Juventus will rejoin the European football family."
Madrid and Barcelona are the only remaining teams backing the Super League and have led revived plans, proposing a revamped 64-club league.
T&T Women defeat Curacao 3-1 to move to two wins from two in Caribbean Queen’s Friendly Tournament
Trinidad & Tobago’s National Women’s Football Team defeated hosts Curacao 3-1 to remain unbeaten in the Caribbean Queen's Friendly Tournament which continued at the Stadion Rignaal ‘Jean’ Francisca, Willemstad on Thursday.
The Trinidadians were given a positive start through goals from senior team debutants Sonia Lamarre and Cherina Steele in the ninth and 14th minutes, respectively, before Curacao pulled one back in the 45th off a corner kick to cut the lead in half heading into the break.
Lille full-back Kedie Johnson restored the visitors' two-goal lead twenty minutes into the second half.
“Very happy with the result, not so much the football,” said T&T Head coach Richard Hood said after Thursday’s win.
Important to note, this game came just a day after they secured a 2-1 win over Aruba at the same venue.
“I thought it was really important that we pulled off a victory tonight given the physical conditioning of the girls. We saw tonight all our senior players struggled, having played 90 minutes last evening (Wednesday night) as well and again on turf which adds to the difficulty,” Hood said.
“The effort from the girls was tremendous and I am really happy with that. They showed a lot of resilience although they were very much dead on their legs. I thought it was really important that we were able to score three quality goals tonight, given our fatigued state,” he added.
Curacao's tactics forced the Trinidadians to play a style they weren't expecting and Hood gave his team credit for adjusting well.
“They forced us to run more than we would have liked and they played a lot of long balls...but all in all, I am really happy with the effort from the girls tonight and I’m happy with their determination to really win,” he said.
Hood expressed satisfaction with what he’s seeing from the next generation after using a number of younger players throughout the first two encounters of the tournament.
“The future is really bright for the youngsters once we do the right things in terms of nurturing them and assisting with their development and getting them involved in more tournaments such as these so all in all, very happy,” he added.
T&T will face Aruba again on Sunday before facing Curacao on Monday.
Dykes ruled out of Euro 2024 for Scotland
Scotland striker Lyndon Dykes has been ruled out of Euro 2024 after picking up an injury in training on Friday.
While preparing for their upcoming friendly against Gibraltar, Dykes left the training pitch on a stretcher with an apparent knee injury.
On Saturday, Scotland confirmed that the 28-year-old will miss the tournament, though the injury has not been specified.
Dykes has scored nine goals for Scotland in 36 appearances, and played in all eight of their Euro 2024 qualifiers, scoring once.
Steve Clarke's side will begin the tournament against hosts Germany in the opening match on June 14.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
