• Copa del Rey

Sports Desk, Jan 19 (EFE).-

Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo Riquelme scored in extra time as Atletico de Madrid beat Real Madrid 4-2 in the Copa del Rey round of 16 to move to the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Barcelona came from a goal down to beat Unionistas 1-3, joining the Madrid side in the last eight.

In one of three Madrid derbies in under a month, Atletico entertained in its Metropolitano Stadium to force Real Madrid to concede only their second defeat of the season in all competitions.

Real pegged back Atletico twice to take the game to extra time, as Jan Oblak’s own goal canceled out Samuel Lino’s opener, and Joselu netted late after Alvaro Morata gave the hosts a lead again.

Before the kick-off, Atletico presented Griezmann with a shirt with the number 174 in recognition of his status as the top scorer in the history of the club.

In the 100th minute of extra time, the Frenchman showed that he deserved every bit of it, breaking down the right to finish in style, and Riquelme struck just before the final whistle to settle the tie.

With the win, Atletico snapped Real’s 21-game winning streak and avenged their 5-3 defeat at the hands of their Madrid rivals in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Saudi Arabia last week.

“It’s not easy to weigh up this match. We played well, we competed until the end, we fought hard and we came back from a goal down twice,” Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said after the match, according to the club’s website.

“There were lots of chances, two crossbars and a disallowed goal. We lost the game when we took unnecessary risks, we lost possession and they punished us,” he added.

Barcelona qualified for the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey by beating Unionistas de Salamanca away 1-3 with goals from Ferran Torres, Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde to ease some pressure on coach Xavi Hernandez.

The home team, who had already dumped Villarreal in the round of 32, took the lead in the 31st minute through Alvaro Gomez, taking advantage of the Barça defensive weakness.

But Xavi’s team tied through Ferran Torres on the stroke of halftime, as the Unionistas, excited about a corner, left the whole of their half undefended, allowing Joao Felix to set up the goal.

Kounde curled the ball inside in the 69th minute to settle Barca’s nerves, and his fellow defender Balde finished a dazzling solo run by slamming the ball into the ceiling of the net in the 73rd minute. EFE

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