Holders Barcelona knocked out of Copa del Rey

MADRID, Jan 21: Holders Barcelona were knocked out of the Copa del Rey after suffering a 3-2 defeat in extra-time at Athletic Bilbao in the last 16 on Thursday as their difficult season continued.

Athletic dominated a thrilling match and went ahead early thanks to a beautiful cross-shot from Iker Muniain who curled the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen into the top corner.

Former Manchester City forward Ferran Torres equalised for Barca with a brilliant right-foot strike from the edge of the area, his first goal for the club.

Inigo Martinez put Athletic back in front after 86 minutes, winning a challenge against Gerard Pique to score, but Pedri netted a fine goal in stoppage time to send the game into extra-time.

Man-of-the-match Muniain scored the winner with a penalty after the video assistant referee spotted a handball from Jordi Alba inside the area.

Athletic joined Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Valencia, Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano, Mallorca and Cadiz in the quarter-finals.

"We will see on Friday what they have but it is worrying how Ansu Fati left the game," Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez told a news conference.

"We knew that it would be a though game and I'm proud my players fought and gave their best. We still have La Liga and Europa League to fight for and we'll do it until the end."

Earlier, ten-man Real Madrid overcame a hostile atmosphere and fought back from a goal down in extra-time to beat Elche 2-1 and reach the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.

Following a scoreless 90 minutes, Elche took the lead with a free kick earned with Real down to 10 men after Marcelo was sent off for a foul on Tete Morente.

Experienced defender Gonzalo Verdu struck the free kick into the wall but his second effort deflected off Dani Ceballos and wrong-footed goalkeeper Andriy Lunin before ending up in the back of the net.

Real grabbed the equaliser when Isco deflected a Ceballos shot inside the box and substitute Eden Hazard scored the winner on a counter-attack after receiving a through ball from David Alaba, rounding the goalkeeper and finishing into an empty net.

The match ended in controversy as Elche found the net in the last minute of extra-time, but the referee disallowed the effort for a foul in the build-up.

After the long trip home from Saudi Arabia where Real won the Spanish Super Cup final against Athletic Bilbao 2-0 on Sunday, manager Carlo Ancelotti rested several first-team regulars.

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