Costa Strike Not Enough As Sevilla Down Atletico

Diego Costa’s third goal in four matches wasn’t enough for Atletico Madrid as Sevilla twice scored late to stun their hosts 2-1 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals on Wednesday, while Valencia also came from a goal down to beat lowly Alaves.

Costa struck for dominant Atletico on his first appearance since being sent off for wildly celebrating his last goal at Getafe, this one a superb first-time shot past Sevilla keeper Sergio Rico after the ball ricocheted to him in the 73rd minute.

However, Sevilla grabbed a hugely fortunate and barely deserved equaliser seven minutes later when a speculative cross deflected off Atletico defender Lucas Hernandez and was then inexplicably pushed into his own net by keeper Miguel Angel Moya.

New Sevilla coach Vincenzo Montella sealed his third win since arriving in Spain — all of coming them in the cup — with a much better goal two minutes from time, Joaquin Correa racing on to Wissam Ben Yedder’s knock-on and tucking a fine finish past Moya.

Valencia came close to being shocked at their Mestalla stadium by Alaves, who are languishing in 17th place in La Liga and are just two points above the relegation zone, but Goncalo Guedes and Rodrigo scored in nine second-half minutes to overturn Ruben Sobrino’s 66th-minute opener for the away side.

Barcelona are at local rivals Espanyol in Wednesday’s late game.

AFP