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Barcelona Reaches Copa Del Rey Quarterfinals. Atletico Also Advances

Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
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Barcelona Reaches Copa Del Rey Quarterfinals. Atletico Also Advances

Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona followed up its rout of Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final with a comfortable 5-1 victory over Real Betis in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
Gavi and Jules Koundé scored a goal each in the first half-hour and Raphinha, Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal added to the lead in the second half to give the Catalan club the win and a spot in the quarterfinals.
It was the fourth straight victory in 2025 for Barcelona, which on Sunday defeated Madrid 5-2 in Saudi Arabia to win the Spanish Super Cup.
“We wanted to keep the momentum from the Super Cup here at home in front of our fans,” Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsí said. “We continue like this and keep the foot on the throttle. The (Christmas) break did well for us, we were able to refresh.”
Barcelona had lost its last two games in 2024 before going on a winning streak against Barbastro in the Copa del Rey and Athletic Bilbao and Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.
Playmaker Dani Olmo, registered in the last minute after a long battle between Barcelona, the Spanish league and Spain's federation because of a missed deadline by the club, helped set up Gavi's opening goal in the third minute at Montjuic stadium. Yamal gave the pass for Koundé's goal in the 27th.
Koundé thought he had added to the lead in first-half stoppage time but his effort was disallowed by video review because he was offside. Yamal also had one called back by the VAR because of offside early in the second half.
Barcelona's third goal finally counted when Raphinha found the net in a breakaway in the 58th. Torres scored the fourth from inside the area in the 67th, a few minutes after coming off the bench, and Yamal sealed it after a nice run in the 75th.
Vitor Roque scored Betis' lone goal by converting an 84th-minute penalty kick.
Atletico Madrid, playing without many regular starters, routed second-division club Elche 4-0 to extend its record winning streak to 15 matches.
The club had never won more than 13 games in a row across all competitions before.
Alexander Sorloth scored from close range in the eighth and converted a 29th-minute penalty kick. Rodrigo Riquelme scored the third from long range in the 61st, and Julián Álvarez closed the scoring in the 75th.
Elche played a man down from the 50th after Nicolás Fernández was sent off with a second yellow card.
Other results Álvaro Rodríguez scored two minutes into the match as Getafe won 1-0 at fourth-division club Pontevedra.
The visitors played a man down from the 41st after a straight red card was shown to Rodríguez.
An 86th-minute goal by Diego García gave Leganes a 3-2 win at second-division club Almeria.
In other round-of-16 matches on Thursday, defending champion Athletic Bilbao hosts Osasuna and Real Madrid welcomes Celta Vigo.

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Arsenal Closes in on Premier League Leader Liverpool after 2-1 Win over Tottenham

15 January 2025, United Kingdom, London: Arsenal players celebrate following the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium. Photo: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire/dpa
15 January 2025, United Kingdom, London: Arsenal players celebrate following the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium. Photo: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire/dpa
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Arsenal Closes in on Premier League Leader Liverpool after 2-1 Win over Tottenham

15 January 2025, United Kingdom, London: Arsenal players celebrate following the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium. Photo: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire/dpa
15 January 2025, United Kingdom, London: Arsenal players celebrate following the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium. Photo: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire/dpa

Arsenal closed the gap on Premier League leader Liverpool to four points after a 2-1 victory over Tottenham on Wednesday.
Mikel Arteta’s team took advantage of Liverpool’s draw with Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, with Leandro Trossard firing the winner in the north London derby at the Emirates Stadium.
“Everybody knows you need to win these games, the fans are buzzing and it’s a great night for us,” Trossard said. “It’s an amazing feeling, especially to get the winner as well, it had to come and now we need to look forward.”
Arsenal was runner-up to Manchester City in the last two seasons and is in contention for the title again this year. But it was given a fright by Spurs when Son Heung-min opened the scoring for the visitors in the 25th minute.
A Dominic Solanke own goal when trying to defend a corner leveled the game in the 40th and Trossard struck low from just inside the box four minutes later to put Arsenal ahead.
Liverpool still has a game in hand on second-place Arsenal but has dropped points by drawing its last two league matches and is on a run of just one win in four in all competitions. That was against fourth-division Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup, The Associated Press reported.
Arsenal bounced back quickly after the disappointment of being knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United on penalties and opened up a two-point lead over Forest in third.
“Less than 72 hours ago we played 120 minutes in another competition that we went out of — that is not easy psychologically. So the way we performed and played today was exceptional,” Arteta said.
Tottenham has won just one of its last nine games in the league.
“The losses hurt me but they aren’t acceptable. We have had too many losses this year and too many games that have got away from us. That needs to stop,” head coach Ange Postecoglou said.
Isak on target again Alexander Isak scored for the eighth straight league game to propel Newcastle into the top four.
The Sweden international struck twice in a 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton to take his season total to 17 in all competitions. He became the fourth player to score in eight consecutive games in the Premier League, following Ruud van Nistelrooy, Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge.
Vardy scored a league record 11-straight games.
“Like most strikers, Isak wants to practice his finishing. It is an art form. He is there after training every day trying to do more,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said.
Isak's form has pushed Newcastle into Champions League contention. He's scored 12 in his last 10 games in all competitions and Newcastle is on a nine-match winning streak.
Isak opened the scoring in the 34th against relegation-threatened Wolverhampton at St James' Park. He got his second in the 57th and Anthony maintained his own scoring form with his fourth goal in successive games.
Howe's team is now one point ahead of fifth-place Chelsea.
Unhappy homecoming for Moyes David Moyes' return to Everton didn't get off to the start he wanted after a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.
In his second spell at the Merseyside club, Moyes took charge of his 519th game as Everton manager and was welcomed by the Goodison Park crowd.
But he couldn't inspire his relegation-threatened team to victory as Ollie Watkins' goal six minutes into the second half sealed Villa's win.
Everton is 16th in the standings and a point above the bottom three.
Moyes' immediate priority is to find goals from somewhere. Everton has failed to score in nine of its last 11 league games.
Leicester slumping The hiring of Ruud van Nistelrooy hasn't paid off for Leicester yet.
A 2-0 loss at home to Crystal Palace leaves the 2016 champion second from bottom of the standings and without a league win since Van Nistelrooy's first game in charge at the start of December.
It's now six straight defeats in the league, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Marc Guehi scoring for Palace in the second half at the King Power Stadium.
“Six without a win is not good enough. You can’t keep talking about performances. We need to win and that needs to happen soon,” Van Nistelrooy said.
United drops Manchester United doesn't play until Thursday, but Palace's win saw the record 20-time champion slip to 15th in the standings.
Ruben Amorim's team plays last-place Southampton at Old Trafford.