News
VIE 25.03.2016
RCD Espanyol and FC Barcelona will do battle at 12:00 CET on Saturday for the honour of lifting the Iscar Cup having made it through a gruelling second matchday of last 16, quarter-final and semi-final challenges.
Round of 16
The second day of the tournament got underway with the last 16 matches, the first three of which went to penalties. Real Madrid needed the penalty shootout to see off Sevilla FC after a 1-1 deadlock at full time, as was also the case for Real Betis against Rayo Vallecano and RCD Espanyol in their showdown with Valencia CF.
.@realmadriden reach the quarter-finals of the @IscarCup after an exciting shoot-out. #LaLigaPromises https://t.co/2u4ct3sLTQ
— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) March 25, 2016
FC Barcelona then secured a convincing 4-0 win against R. Sporting, while Villarreal CF also triumphed with a 2-0 victory over rivals UD Las Palmas. Levante UD prevailed on penalties in their battle against an RC Celta that came into Matchday Two having made a clean sweep of the opening rounds. Selección Paulista and Sporting CP headed into the quarter-finals as the two sole international representatives after seeing off rivals RC Deportivo and FC Porto, respectively.
Quarter-finals
Through to the quarter-finals, Real Madrid turned things around to defeat R. Betis, 2-1, breaking the Seville side's unbeaten run thus far in the tournament and securing themselves the first pass to the semi-finals. Espanyol would then have to rely on success in the penalty shootout to end the admirable tournament campaign mounted by Selección Paulista, whose goalkeeper scored a spectacular goal from a free-kick from the midfield positon while the clock was running.
OMG! What a strike by the keeper! Golazo! #LaLigaPromises https://t.co/O8A15Ilwtt
— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) March 25, 2016
Levante sent the last of the Iscar Cup international contenders home by racking up a 2-0 victory against Portuguese team, Sporting, thereby seeing themselves in the semi-finals, alongside a Barcelona that had scored a 2-1 result against Villarreal, in part courtesy of an opener which found its mark just seven seconds after kick-off. The Azulgranas, having started their competition campaign on a negative note, with a defeat, demonstrated that they had dug in to up their game during the course of this Iscar Cup tournament.
Semi-finals
Espanyol faced Real Madrid in the first semi-final showdown, the decider clinched by a magnificent individual effort from Eric Alcaide. The Pericos player received the ball in the midfield before sprinting past three challengers and firing it into the back of the net to put his team in the tournament final where they will meet neighbours FC Barcelona.
The Azulgranas once again showed their impressive progression in the tournament by producing a 4-0 win over Levante. Alexis Olmedo scored the opener; picking up on a rebounded ball before Pol Montesinos finished a great collective effort for the second. Jan Encuentra and Jon Pilar put away two more after the break to take their team forward.
The grand final will be played in Iscar on Saturday at 12.00 CET and will be preceded by the match between Real Madrid and Levante to decide third and fourth place.
.@RCDEspanyol vs @FCBarcelona, the @IscarCup's final
— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) March 25, 2016
This Saturday at 12:00 CET pic.twitter.com/8tKLIYTU56
© LALIGA - 2016