Real Madrid booked a place in the last-16 of the Copa del Rey but needed a lot of effort and a little luck as they won 3-1 at Alcoyano on Wednesday.
The Spanish giants needed two late goals from Marco Asensio and a Jose Juan own goal to help them gain revenge for their defeat to the third-tier side last year.
Twelve months after a 2-1 defeat at El Collao Stadium, situated in a small town close to Alicante, Real returned to take a 39th-minute lead through a Eder Militao header. The hosts restored parity on 66 minutes as Dani Vega scored a magnificent equaliser, curling a left-footed strike into Andriy Lunin’s far top corner.
Real went ahead in the 76th minute when Alcoyano's Raul Gonzalez deflected Asensio's shot into his own net with his back, wrongfooting goalkeeper Jose Juan.
Two minutes later, substitute Isco took advantage of a mistake by two Alcoyano defenders and, after colliding with Jose Juan, the ball bounced into the goal.
"Games like this are the most difficult and last year we learnt the hard way how things can get messy in these situations," Madrid defender Marcelo told reporters.
"We did a very serious job. We fought hard, wasn't a great game by our side but we fought."
It was a sluggish performance by Real, who were missing usual starters Vinicius Jr, Ferland Mendy, Thibaut Courtois, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema.
In 2021, fans were barred from witnessing Alcoyano's giant-killing victory due to the restrictions that were in place to stop the spread of Covid-19.
This year there were 4,850 supporters packed into their stadium, and the atmosphere exploded after Vega's equaliser.
Yet their dream of repeating last year's heroics lasted for only 10 minutes, as Asensio and Isco came off the bench to help Real advance.
They joined champions Barcelona, Espanyol, Real Sociedad, Valencia, Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano, Mallorca and third-tier Atletico Baleares, who eliminated La Liga side Celta Vigo with a 2-1 win, as the first clubs to advance into the last-16.
