Alcoyano vs Real Madrid

Real Madrid join the 2021/22 Copa del Rey in the round of 32 as they travel to the Estadio El Collao to take on last season’s conquerors Alcoyano.

Alcoyano made light work of fellow third-tier outfit CD Badajoz in their Copa del Rey opener, cruising to a 3-0 victory before ousting La Liga basement boys Levante via penalties in the previous round. However, the two cup successes sandwiched a brace of league defeats ‘to nil,’ which was also the case in their last Primera División RFEF game of 2021. Before holding Levante to a 3-3 draw in regulation time in their most recent competitive home fixture, each of Alcoyano’s previous four matches at the Estadio El Collao had seen one or both sides fail to score in games garnering under 2.5 total goals (W1, D2, L1). They will need to muster that defensive stubbornness if they are to replicate last season’s feat where they went past Real Madrid after extra-time in this exact Copa del Rey round.

Meanwhile, La Liga pacesetters Real Madrid will be keen to avoid another humiliation this time around and bounce back from a dismal 1-0 league defeat at Getafe last time out. A shock reverse at the hands of relegation-battling Getafe halted Madrid’s impressive 15-game unbeaten run in all competitions (W13, D2). However, ‘Los Merengues’ have shown signs of weakness lately, failing to find the net in two of their last three domestic outings. Curiously, since a 3-3 draw at Levante in August, none of the visitors’ subsequent 12 competitive away matches have ended level (W10, L2), eight (67%) of which featured a single-goal margin at full-time. With three of ‘Los Blancos’ last four encounters on hostile turf seeing the winner on the day keep a clean sheet (W3, L1), scoring first could be of the essence.