Real Madrid rallies past Villarreal in Copa; Barcelona beats Ceuta

Real Madrid appeared on the verge of elimination from the Copa del Rey facing another demoralizing blow just days after losing the Spanish Super Cup final to rival Barcelona in Saudi ArabiaBut with three goals in less than 30 minutes on Thursday Madrid rallied to overcome a twogoal deficit in the first half and defeated Villarreal 32 to advance to the Copa quarterfinals for the second straight seasonBarcelona earlier Thursday advanced with a 50 rout of thirddivision club Ceuta with Robert Lewandowski scoring twiceDani Ceballos scored Madrids goahead goal with a shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 86th minute to give his team victory in Villarreal He had set up Viniacutecius Juacuteniors goal in the 57th to start the comeback and Eacuteder Militatildeo got the equalizer in the 70thThings changed in the second half after a poor start Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said I told the players they had to wake up We lost too many duelsVillarreal trying to return to the last eight after a roundof32 exit last season had taken a comfortable lead with goals by Eacutetienne Capoue in the fourth minute and Samuel Chukwueze in the 42ndMadrid which was eliminated by Athletic Bilbao in the quarterfinals last season had lost 21 at Villarreal in its last Spanish league match dropping three points behind leader BarcelonaI think we played better than they did again Villarreal coach Quique Setieacuten said You always have to be careful with Real MadridAncelotti said he was annoyed at Rodrygo for apparently being upset at his substitutionAlso readReal Madrid begin Super Cup title defence in Saudi ArabiaAtletico Madrid Real Sociedad Sevilla Valencia Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna have also advanced to the Copa quarterfinalsThe draw for the lasteight matchups will be on FridayDefending champion Real Betis was eliminated by Osasuna in a penalty shootout on WednesdayBARCELONA CRUISESBarcelona kept momentum from its Spanish Super Cup triumph by comfortably defeating Ceuta The 31 win over Madrid in Saudi Arabia gave the Catalan club its first title since Lionel Messi left in 2021Raphinha opened the scoring on Thursday with a low leftfooted shot from outside the penalty area in the 41st minute before Lewandowski added to the lead from inside the box after a pass by Franck Kessieacute in the 50th Ansu Fati netted the third in a breakaway in the 70th Kessieacute scored the fourth with a header in the 77th and Lewandowski found the net again with a low strike in the 90thThese matches can be difficult if you dont play at 10037 so we had to take it very seriously Barcelonas Sergi Roberto saidAfter the second goal things got a bit easier We are happy to be through to the next roundBarcelona didnt make it past the round of 16 of the Copa last season being eliminated by Athletic Bilbao It had won five Copa trophies in seven seasons before thatCeuta had advanced past firstdivision club Elche in the round of 32This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever