Alvaro Negredo scored a hat-trick as Gary Neville enjoyed just his second win in seven games in charge of Valencia with a 4-0 thrashing of Granada.
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Neville is still waiting for his first win in La Liga, but it would take a monumental collapse in next week’s second leg for his side not to book their place in the Cup quarterfinals.
“We are going in the right direction,” said Neville. “We are better physically, in our play and our confidence, but obviously we have a long way to go and we can’t get carried away with just one win.”
Former Manchester City striker Negredo showed no ill effects from the glorious chance he missed to hand his side a famous victory over Real Madrid in the dying seconds of Sunday’s 2-2 draw by coolly slotting home the opener after just seven minutes. Santi Mina then unselfishly squared for Rodrigo to tap home just his second goal of the season just after the half-hour mark.
Important, confidence boosting win all round for Valencia. Rodrigo (back from injury), Negredo (couldn’t score), Neville (needed win).
— David Cartlidge (@davidjaca) January 6, 2016
Granada had their chances to get back in the tie when lively young Venezuelan striker Adalberto Penaranda skewed just wide before Australian goalkeeper Maty Ryan made the most of a rare outing in the Valencia goal with a good low stop to deny Ruben Rochina.
And Valencia killed the tie thanks to two Negredo penalties after the break.
Earlier, cup specialists Athletic Bilbao produced a stirring second-half comeback from 2-0 down to take a 3-2 lead into the second leg of their last-16 tie against Villarreal. The visitors counter-attacked to perfection before the break to take a commanding lead through Leo Baptistao and Samu Garcia despite resting a host of first-team regulars to prioritise their push for a top-four finish in La Liga.
However, Inaki Williams’s early strike after half-time brought last year’s finalists back into the game before Aritz Aduriz came off the bench to score his 22nd goal of the season and Aymeric Laporte rounded off the comeback 10 minutes from time.
Mirandes, one of only two sides from outside the top flight left in the competition, drew 1-1 with Deportivo la Coruna.
