Copa del Rey Top Five, 24 Jan: Cazorla captains the Yellow Submarine through
Santi Cazorla's injury-free renaissance at Villarreal has been great to watch, but it is by no means for sentimental reasons why football fans want to see the Spaniard do well. Another reason is that he is still a hell of a player.
He was at the heart of most things creative in the 3-1 win over Girona in the Copa del Rey, scoring one and assisting another.
His goal was the second of the match and, almost fittingly, came after he was attempted to set up someone else. After his pass inside was intercepted, he latched on to the loose ball to fizz a strike under the keeper who had little time to react.
Samuel Chukwueze then may have lit up proceedings with a fine goal for the third, but it was Cazorla's pass down the right wing which put him on the course for his dribble. Naturally, Cazorla's passing was excellent as he completed 64/75 balls to team-mates, as well as enjoying 98 touches overall.
In what was the biggest surprise of the round, Leonesa knocked out Atletico Madrid after winning 2-1 in extra time.
Diego Simeone's men had 57% possession and fired 25 shots on goal, 10 of which hit the target.
With goalkeeper Lucas Giffard only conceding once, he kept Atletico at bay for the majority of the game by making an incredible nine saves, with a few coming in the latter stages as the visitors desperately looked for an equalising/winning goal.
It was a cracking cup tie between Badajoz and Eibar, as the celebrations from the home side's goals show what it meant for them to progress in the Spanish Cup.
Alex Corredera was key to the 3-1 win, earning a goal and two assists. His goal came from the penalty spot to make it 2-0 after he set up the opener with a precise through-ball down the right-hand side of the box for Fobi Kingsley to slot home.
Eibar would bring it back to 2-1, but the hosts reclaimed their two-goal advantage when Corredera swung a cross to the front post from a corner for Pablo Vazquez to nod a header over the line.
Sevilla were the pass masters of the Copa del Rey in this round as three of their players - Oliver Torres, Ever Banega, and Fernando - not only completed the more passes than anyone, but also had the top three most touches of anyone, too.
Fernando opened the scoring for the home side in the 3-1 win over Levante. After picking up the ball inside the box after some unselfish work from Lucas Ocampos, the Brazilian displayed composure to take touches around an attempted tackle before finding the bottom corner with a composed finish.
Overall, he completed 93/99 attempted passes.
Oliver actually received the same FC rating as Fernando in the win over Levante.
While the top three passers of the week were all from Sevilla, the 25-year-old was the best of the lot as he completed 95/102 attempted balls to team-mates and also had more touches in this round of fixtures than anyone else, with 121.
Like Fernando, he earned a deserved place on the scoresheet, too, taking the game beyond Levante with the third goal which was expertly sidefooted into the right corner from 12 yards.
HONOURABLE MENTION
Real Sociedad progressed after a 2-0 win over Espanyol, but it wasn't as comfortable as the scoreline suggests as they had to rely on Alex Remiro (8) making five saves to claim his clean sheet.