Football
ESPN staff 7y

Atletico Madrid cruise past Las Palmas in Copa del Rey; Celta thrash Valencia

Atletico Madrid grabbed a decided advantage in their Copa del Rey last-16 tie, beating Las Palmas 2-0 at Gran Canaria on Tuesday.

Diego Simeone's team jumped out to the lead in the 23rd minute when Koke blasted a right-footed shot past Raul Lizoain.

Just after the break, Antoine Griezmann doubled the visitor's advantage from a headed Kevin Gameiro pass to leave Las Palmas with plenty of work to do in the return leg next week at the Vicente Calderon.

Celta Vigo ran out 4-1 winners at Valencia, where there were prematch demonstrations outside the Estadio Mestalla against owner Peter Lim.

Los Che sit 17th in La Liga and saw coach Cesare Prandelli walk out this week following an apparent row over January transfers.

The hosts found themselves behind inside two minutes when Iago Aspas converted a penalty before Theo Bongonda doubled Celta's lead in the 13th minute and then Daniel Wass drove in a third five minutes later.

Daniel Parejo reduced the deficit with a penalty just before the hour, but John Guidetti slotted in Celta's fourth with 16 minutes left.

Eibar are in good position to advance to the quarterfinals after seeing off Osasuna 3-0.

Nano opened things up for the visitors in the 28th minute and Bebe and Adrian added second-half goals to all but seal the before the second leg at Eibar.

It's all to play for in the second leg for Deportivo La Coruna and Alaves as the two teams played to a 2-2 draw in their first-leg meeting.

Christian Santos had the visitors in front in the third minute before Edgar Mendez doubled the lead from the penalty spot to give Alaves a second away goal and a 2-0 advantage at half-time.

But the hosts came storming back in the second half, with Bruno Gama scoring in the 73rd minute and Joselu adding an injury time leveller to help Depor edge back into the tie.

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