Espanyol take first leg lead vs. Sevilla in Copa del Rey quarterfinal
Forward Sergio Garcia scored one goal and set up another to lead Espanyol's 3-1 win over Sevilla on Thursday to take a lead in their Copa del Rey quarterfinal.
Goals from Felipe Caicedo, Garcia and Ãlvaro Vázquez were enough for the hosts to cruise to victory at the Estadi Cornellà -El Prat although Carlos Becca's late consolation for Sevilla kept the tie alive.
The game kicked off at a ferocious pace and both sides created chances early on before Caicedo opened the scoring on 18 minutes. The former Manchester City striker found space on the edge of the area before unleashing a powerful effort into the top left hand corner of Sergio Rico's goal.
Sevilla came close to levelling when Denis Suarez struck the bar with a free-kick on 33 minutes but it was the hosts that registered the next goal midway through the second-half. Alejandro Arribas was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area on 76 minutes and Garcia stepped up and cooly slotted home the penalty.
Two became three six minutes later when Garcia found Vaquez with a perfectly timed through ball and the on-loan Real Madrid man steadied himself before tucking the ball into the net. Sevilla threw caution to the wind in the remaining nine minutes and Vicente Iborra somehow managed to head over the crossbar from a right wing free-kick when it seemed easier to score.
With the clock ticking down the visitors did get the goal they craved when a long throw in into the Espanyol area caused havoc and - after an almighty scramble - Bacca was on hand to fire home.
The second leg in Sevilla is next Thursday.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
