Atletico crash out; Real, Sevilla sneak through

Antoine Griezmann scored one and set up another but could not prevent Atletico Madrid tumbling out of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night as Girona progressed on away goals after a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Real Madrid and Sevilla each avoided upsets, their first-leg victories proving enough despite losses to Leganes and Athletic Bilbao respectively. Defeat for Real, however, means they have now won only two of their five matches this year while Santiago Solari’s frosty relationship with Isco shows no signs of improvement.
Isco started, but struggled, and was replaced in the 68th minute. For Atletico, Griezmann came off the bench in the second half and turned the tie in their favour, teeing up Angel Correa and then scoring himself to give his team a 3-2 lead at a rocking Wanda Metropolitano.
But Girona pulled out one more surprise to go through to the quarter-finals as Seydou Doumbia’s shot found the corner in the 88th minute, snatching a 4-4 draw on aggregate after last week’s first leg finished 1-1. Griezmann had scored then too, and in between against Levante on Saturday. This was his eighth goal in as many matches.
A sumptuous volley from Valery Fernandez and Cristhian Stuani’s header had put Girona in charge after Nikola Kalinic had given Atletico an early lead. Perhaps Simeone had one eye on the Champions League tie against Juventus next month, not to mention his side’s title challenge, which sees them five points behind Barcelona and the Catalans’ closest challengers in La Liga. But it is now six seasons since Atletico last reached the final of Spain’s most prestigious cup competition, which still represented their most likely source of a trophy this term.
Madrid were beaten 1-0 by Leganes, Martin Braithwaite giving hope to the hosts, who failed to take a number of chances to launch an unlikely comeback.
Real had won the first leg 3-0. “We got through but the performance was weak,” Solari said. His team now turn their attention to tomorrow’s crunch La Liga game against Sevilla, who slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Bilbao. Gorka Guruzeta scored the winner for a rejuvenated Bilbao side but Sevilla still progress 3-2 on aggregate.

Spanish Copa del Rey results
Last 16, second leg
Atletico Madrid 3 (Kalinic 12, Correa 66, Griezmann 84) Girona 3 (Fernandez Estrada 37, Stuani 59, Doumbia 88) Aggregate 4-4; Girona win on away goals
Sevilla 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Guruzeta 77) Sevilla win 3-2 on aggregate
Leganes 1 (Braithwaite 30) Real Madrid 0 Real Madrid win 3-1 on aggregate