Real Madrid and Barcelona both battled third-tier opposition to reach the last 16 of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
In a rematch of last season's Round of 32 clash, Real defeated Alcoiano 3–1, with goals from Eder Milito and Marco Asensio, as well as goals from Alcoiano's 42-year-old goalkeeper José Juan.
In the previous season, Alcoiano surprised Los Blancos with a 2–1 extra-time victory at the same stage of the competition. Wednesday's match looked as if Dani Vega equalized for the hosts with an astonishing individual goal on 66 minutes.
However, Asensio's sudden deflection effort took Real only 10 minutes to make a comeback, before José Juan's unfortunate own goal ensured that there would be no repeat mammoth kills.
Despite the victory, it would certainly have caused some concern for head coach Carlo Ancelotti that his side looked second-best for most of the match, just days after the Italian said his players after the league defeat. "Stayed on leave for an extra day". Fewer getafe over the weekend.
Elsewhere, Barca had to come from behind to defeat Linares Deportivo, as Dani Alves made his first appearance for the Catalan club since leaving in 2016.
Head coach Xavi opted to rest several star names, despite his team already depleted by injuries and covid cases, and Blagrana found himself behind after just 19 minutes as Hugo Diaz struck Linares. gave a blow.
With the team still trailing at half-time, Xavi was forced to bring out the big guns as Frankie de Jong, Gerard Pique and Ousmane Dembele entered the game during the second half.
It was Dembele who eventually found the equalizer for Barca after the hour mark, squeezing a shot under Linares goalkeeper Brima Razak, with young La Masia product Ferran Jatagli making the winner just minutes later.
Alves, now 38, was asked to wait until January to make his second debut at Barcelona after being initially signed by the club in November.
The Brazilian full back enjoyed a trophy-filled first spell at the Catalan club between 2008 and 2016, winning six La Liga titles and three Champions League trophies as Pep Guardiola's side dominated European football.