Valencia’s Luciano Vietto scored a hat-trick, including a stunning strike from nearly 50 metres, as they thrashed Las Palmas 4-0 to reach the Copa del Rey quarter-finals 5-1 on aggregate on Tuesday.
Atletico Madrid, who beat Lleida Esportiu 3-0 on the night and 7-0 over two legs, will join them in the last eight, reports Reuters.
Vietto, who moved to Valencia last week on loan from Atletico Madrid, having not scored in over a year, netted the opening goal at the Mestalla in the 30th minute, tucking home the rebound after Simone Zaza’s header was parried by Raul Lizoain.
The Argentine striker doubled the lead three minutes into the second half with a neat dink over the Las Palmas goalkeeper, before Nemanja Maksimovic hammered home his first goal for the club shortly afterwards.
Vietto completed his hat-trick against the sorry islanders with an outrageous effort from barely inside the Las Palmas half, catching out Lizoain with a dipping strike.
The last time Vietto scored he also grabbed a hat-trick in Sevilla’s 9-1 win over Formentera in the King’s Cup in December 2016.
Earlier in Madrid, Atletico put on a second half show to beat third-tier Lleida.
The Catalonian side put up a good fight to stay level in the first half at a half-empty Wanda Metropolitano stadium, with Lucas Hernandez hitting the post and Diego Costa denied when one-on-one with the visiting keeper.
The former Chelsea striker, however, made amends by teeing up Yannick Carrasco to slot home in the 57th minute, giving the few fans inside the stadium something to cheer.
Kevin Gameiro fired home Atletico’s second 17 minutes later after good work by Angel Correa, before new signing Vitolo netted his first goal for the club after racing onto Fernando Torres’s through ball.
