Granada 2 – 1 Valencia
The quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey started at the Nuevo Los Cármenes Stadium, a venue that dressed up for an exciting match between Granada and Valencia on Tuesday, February 4th. The nazaríes would strike right at the start of the match, all thanks to a shot from outside the box by Roberto Soldado, a familiar face to the Valencia team, that Jaume Doménech could do very little to prevent the ball from hitting the back of the net (1 - 0). Rodrigo Moreno could have equalized shortly after, but the Spanish-Brazilian forward crossed his shot too much.
The opportunity for Granada came next, through Álvaro Vadillo, but Jaume made an impressive save. However, Valencia would temporarily level the score just before halftime. A recovery by Ferran Torres set up Francis Coquelin to deliver a pinpoint pass to Rodrigo, who this time managed to score (1 - 1). From that moment on, Valencia significantly improved their performance on the pitch. A somewhat messy play ended with an incredible save by Aarón Escandell from Maxi Gómez, who always has the fishing rod ready.
A bit of good news for Valencia was the return of Gonçalo Guedes to the field, who had been sidelined since October 2019. Just when it seemed like the match was headed for extra time, the referee awarded a penalty in favor of Granada after consulting the VAR monitor. Soldado stepped up to take the responsibility of the penalty kick, beating Jaume and sealing Granada's spot in the semifinals (2 - 1). Therefore, the defending champion of the Copa del Rey says goodbye in the quarterfinals.
Congratulations to @GranadaCdeF and all their fans!!
The nazarí team secures a place in the semifinals of the #CopaDelRey! #LaCopaMola pic.twitter.com/64mn1uE1CN
— RFEF (@rfef) February 4, 2020