Napoli, Sevilla and Manchester City were all big winners in domestic cup ties tonight.
Sevilla are through to the Copa del Rey semi-finals after wrapping up a 6-3 aggregate victory against Villarreal. The Liga rivals drew 3-3 in the first leg of their last-eight tie, but it was Gregorio Manzano’s side who took charge of the second leg. Renato gave the hosts the lead after just seven minutes, with Frédéric Kanouté and Alexis putting them out of reach.
Napoli, second to AC Milan in Serie A, progressed in the Coppa Italia after beating Bologna. First-half goals from Hassan Yebda and Ezequiel Lavezzi gave the hosts a two-goal cushion and, though Riccardo Meggiorini’s spot kick halved the deficit soon after the interval, Walter Mazzarri’s team hung on to book a quarter-final tie at home to Inter Milan.
Manchester City, meanwhile, made it through to the FA Cup fourth round at the second attempt. Held 2-2 by Sven-Göran Eriksson’s Leicester City ten days ago, City won 4-2 in the return thanks to goals from Carlos Tévez – who also missed a penalty – Patrick Vieira, Adam Johnson and Aleksandar Kolarov.
Elsewhere, Jonathan Walters scored twice in extra time as Stoke City beat Cardiff City 2-0 in their replay, while Wolverhampton Wanderers won 5-0 against Doncaster Rovers.
Montpellier will face the winners of Wednesday’s meeting between Auxerre and holders Marseille in the French League Cup showpiece following their semi-final victory over Paris Saint-Germain. PSG, reduced to ten men when Clément Chantôme saw red on 89 minutes, were beaten by an Olivier Giroud goal at the start of the second period of extra time which finally broke the deadlock.
