Atletico Madrid beat Las Palmas 2-0 in Copa del Rey

LAS PALMAS: Jorge "Koke" Resurreccion and Antoine Griezmann scored a goal in each half as Atletico Madrid defeated Las Palmas 2-0 in a first-leg match in the Round of 16 of the Copa del Rey on Tuesday.

Koke opened the scoring with a right-foot shot from inside the area in the 24th minute, and Griezmann secured the victory in the 51st with a close-range header after being set up by Kevin Gameiro.

The result ended Las Palmas' unbeaten run at home this season. It hadn't lost at Gran Canaria Stadium since a game against Real Madrid in March.

Atletico had edged Las Palmas 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in the teams' last Spanish league match before the winter break, ending a four-game winless streak.

Atletico is already nine points behind league leader Real Madrid, and its most realistic chance of a domestic trophy this season is in the Copa.

Three other first-leg matches will be played on Wednesday, including Real Madrid against Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Defending champion Barcelona plays at Athletic Bilbao on Thursday.

The Copa del Rey is Spain's second-most important club competition behind the Spanish league, which resumes after the winter break on Friday.

Valencia 1, Celta Vigo 4

Valencia continued to struggle after the surprise resignation of former Italy coach Cesare Prandelli.

Goals by Iago Aspas in the third minute, Theo Bongonda in the 14th and Daniel Wass in 19th put Celta in control in front of a frustrated crowd at Mestalla Stadium.

Daniel Parejo scored for Valencia by converting a penalty kick early in the second half, but John Guidetti netted again for Celta to seal the victory and leave his club in good position to advance to the quarterfinals.

Prandelli resigned last week, only three months after taking over the Spanish club.

He won only three of 10 matches at the helm of Valencia, which is just outside the relegation zone in the Spanish league.

Elsewhere

Nano scored in the first half and Bebe and Adrian Gonzalez added a goal each in the second as Eibar easily defeated Osasuna, while Deportivo La Coruna scored in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw against Alaves after trailing 2-0 at halftime.

Â