Spain’s record football champions Real Madrid experienced a rude awakening in the national cup competition after their Super Cup triumph in Saudi Arabia.
The cup defender, with national player Antonio Rüdiger and substitute ex-world champion Toni Kroos, failed in the round of 16 with a 2:4 (2:2, 1:1) after extra time against local rivals Atletico Madrid.
Champions FC Barcelona, on the other hand, moved into the round of the top eight four days after the 1:4 humiliation at the hands of their arch rivals in the Super Cup final with a lackluster 3:1 (1:1) at third division club Unionistas Salamanca.
The Catalans, with national team captain Ilkay Gündogan coming into the game after around an hour, followed other top teams such as league leaders FC Girona into the quarter-finals. The pairings for the games for a place in the semi-finals have not yet been determined.
Real Madrid is running behind
Real had to chase down Atletico’s lead twice in regular time.
After the hosts scored goals from Samuel Lino (10th) and Alvaro Morata (57th), the Royals equalized with an own goal from Jan Oblak (45th + 1) and Joselu (82nd) before Atletico pulled off their coup in extra time the goals from former world champion Antoine Griezmann (100th) and Rodrigo Riquelme were perfect.
Barca initially struggled in Salamanca and even fell behind 14 minutes before half-time. But Ferran Torres (45th) initiated the turnaround before the break, which Jules Kounde (69th) and Alejandro Balde (73rd) completed in style.