Madrid, Jan 14 (IANS) Athletic Club qualified for the quarterfinal of Spain’s Copa del Rey, but not before suffering for 120 minutes away to second division Cultural Leonesa.

Athletic played for an hour with 10 men against a side that pushed the 2024 Cup winner to the limit, before finally succumbing to an Unai Gomez penalty in extra time.

The home side started brighter of the two and was rewarded when Ivan Calero opened the scoring with a smart finish to finish off a counter-attack, reports.

Athletic needed time to react, but was level after 26 minutes when Gorka Guruzeta turned and scored from outside of the penalty area.

The visiting side’s joy lasted around a minute when Calero put Cultural back ahead after Manu Justo broke the offside trap to set him up with an excellent pass, with the goal given after a VAR check.

It didn’t take long for Guruzeta to make it 2-2 with another turn and shot after a cross from Nico Williams, but it was soon 3-2 after Ruben Sobrino netted a penalty for Cultural after Dani Vivian’s handball as Athletic’s defense continued to struggle.

There was still another goal in the first half when Nico Williams had his heels clipped and Oihan Sancet kept his calm to make it 3-3 from the spot.

Both sides were slightly more cautious at the start of the second half, although Athletic was reduced to 10 men in the 56th minute when Aitor Paredes was sent off for speaking out of turn to referee Jose Hernandez.

With an extra man, Cultural tried to take the game to Athletic, but neither side found a winner in 90 minutes and the game went into extra time.

There was more drama when Cultural substitute Yayo Gonzalez forced the ball into the Athletic goal after the visitors failed to clear a corner, but VAR eventually ruled the goal out for offside, and just two minutes later the unfortunate Yayo caught Nico Williams in the penalty area to allow Gomez to score the winner.

Atletico Madrid also progressed to the quarterfinals with a 1-0 win away to Deportivo La Coruna with Antoine Griezmann deciding the game after 60 minutes.

In the day’s only all-La Liga tie, Osasuna raced into a 2-0 lead away to Real Sociedad, with Jon Moncayola scoring a stunning effort before a Mikel Oyarzabal own goal doubled the lead.

Real Sociedad improved in the second half with Benat Turientes making it 2-1 with 15 minutes still to play and Igor Zubeldia levelled in the third minute of injury time.

With no further goals, Real Sociedad goalkeeper Unai Marrero was then his side’s hero with two saves in the penalty shootout to see his side through.

–IANS

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