HIGHLIGHTS | A night of pure Copa madness

Second night of the Round of 16, three more games, one shared dream: book a spot in the Copa del Rey Mapfre quarter-finals. And, as always in the knockout cup, the drama delivered big time.

The biggest shock of the night went down at the Carlos Belmonte. Albacete pulled off an all-time Copa classic by knocking out Real Madrid, last season’s finalists. Javi Villar fired the hosts ahead, before Mastantuono hit back to level things up before the break.

The second half was pure Copa chaos — divisions didn’t matter anymore. Jefté put Albacete back in front late on, only for Gonzalo to smash home a header in stoppage time (90+1’) to make it 2–2. But the magic wasn’t done yet. Deep into added time (90+4’), Jefté produced an absolute screamer, sending the stadium into total meltdown.

There was drama too in La Cartuja, where Real Betis had to come from behind against a fearless Elche CF. Pétrot opened the scoring for the visitors after pouncing on a loose ball, but then El Chimy Ávila went full hero mode, grabbing a brace to turn it around and send Betis through.

The calmest win of the night belonged to Deportivo Alavés, who edged past Rayo Vallecano at Mendizorroza in a game packed with chances at both ends. Toni Martínez got the ball rolling, and Carlos Vicente sealed it late in stoppage time, booking Alavés a place in Monday’s quarter-final draw (January 19).

📋 Check out the official match reports for all games