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AMMAN — Jordan’s national team failed to win its first match at the 16th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2015 Asian Cup when it went down 1-0 to Iraq at Brisbane Stadium on Monday.

Iraq possessed the ball more as both teams looked for scoring chances. Jordan’s Odai Al Saify and Mohammad Mustafa missed two chances to score before Iraq’s Yaser Qasim scored in the 77th minute.

Jordan was reduced to 10 men after Anas Bani Yasin got his second booking. With Japan being the clear contender to lead the group and possibly win the Cup, the defeat was a big drawback for Jordan, who will next play Palestine on January 16. 

Jordan’s hopes of taking the second qualifying spot from the group rested upon winning the opening match against 2011 champs Iraq.

Jordan coach Ray Wilkins said he was disappointed not to at least get a draw.

“I felt during the game we were more than equal, more than worthy of earning a point,” Wilkins told The Associated Press. “My team at the moment are very disappointed and down. It’s my job to pick them up and get started again.”

Wilkins knows he needs to work on the finishing.

“That’s the slight problem we’ve been having, is the last third of the pitch,” he said. “We’ve put teams under difficulty when we’ve attacked, but we need a little bit of luck to go our way. We need it to go off someone’s backside and fly in the net. That will kick-start I’m sure a good period for us.”

In the other Group D match, four time titleholders Japan beat first time qualifiers Palestine 4-0. 

The Palestinians, who qualified by winning the AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives last year, got an early taste of competition in Asia’s top flight.

Japan needed only eight minutes to score its first goal as Endo’s long-range strike beat Palestine captain and goalkeeper Ramzi Saleh’s dive.

“Endo’s early goal was great,” Okazaki, was voted player of the match, told The Associated Press. “It gave the team great momentum. We played well, however, we could have been better.

“We are not satisfied with four goals we should have scored more.”

The event, which kicked off in Australia on January 9, has a total of nine Arab teams among 16 playing in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle.

Teams include:

Group A: Australia, South Korea, Oman and Kuwait.

Group B: Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, China and North Korea.

Group C: Iran, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.

In the latest FIFA World Rankings, Jordan dropped 12 spots to 93rd. Other group ranks are: Japan (54), Iraq (114) and Palestine (115).

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1971, this is Jordan’s third time at the Asian Cup finals — twice reaching the quarter-finals in 2004 and 2011.

Group D standings

Little is expected from outsiders Palestine on their Asian Cup debut, but that doesn’t mean they will be treating their stay in Australia like a holiday.

The AFC Challenge Cup winners, ranked 115th in the world by FIFA, open their Group D campaign on Monday with the trickiest of tasks against holders Japan but are determined to put on a show in Asia’s biggest tournament.

“We have come here to say to all the people that there’s a country called Palestine, and we will represent the Palestinian people here,” goalkeeper Ramzi Saleh told reporters on Sunday.

“We have come to Australia for the first time and we are the only team at this tournament that is under occupation. We are proud to be here.”

“Many people are saying that we are tourists in this competition. But we have come here to fight and to get to the second round. Nothing is impossible in football and anything can happen on the pitch.”

Palestine’s hopes of points in Australia have been hindered by numerous challenges.

Travel at home is one of the biggest issues, with movement heavily restricted in Palestine, locked in a bloody conflict with Israel for decades.

Defender Haytham Theeb is one of those who was unable to make the trip Down Under.

Head coach Ahmed Al Hassan, who stepped in after AFC Challenge Cup winning coach Jamal Mahmoud quit for personal reasons, bemoaned the situation.

“All the players have had a lot of difficulties to make the selection because there are many from Gaza, from the West Bank and also outside Palestine,” the former goalkeeper explained. “It’s difficult to gather them in the same place.

“We always have to gather outside Palestine, so this situation is different than for any other team in the world.

“There are a lot of players outside Palestine. They have no opportunity to go inside Palestine and it’s very difficult for us. We gather all the players outside and that’s a negative point for us, but we fight to always be together like a team.”

Al Hassan was hoping that fighting spirit, and the element of surprise, could result in a shock for Japan before they round of their Group D campaign against West Asian rivals Jordan and Iraq.

“Japan don’t know anything about my team because we are new in this competition. Only in the AFC Challenge Cup they saw us, but that’s not enough,” the coach said.

“I’m sure, they know my team will fight and play with spirit against them tomorrow. There are secrets in football, but I have a strategy to show ourselves at a good level.”

MELBOURNE, Australia — Tournament favourite Iran downed a spirited Bahrain 2-0 and the United Arab Emirates trounced Qatar 4-1 in the opening Group C matches of the Asian Cup on Sunday.

Ehsan Hajsafi and Masoud Shojaei scored late in each half to give Iran the win over Bahrain in a contest that started at a frenetic pace with plenty of chances for each side.

Man of the Match Hajsafi finally made the breakthrough for Iran in the second minute of first-half stoppage time when he gathered an attempted clearance from an Andranik Teymourian corner to fire the ball from just outside the area over the Bahrain defence and the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Sayed Mohamed Abbas.

“It was an unbelievable goal in any football stadium in the world,” said Iran coach Carlos Queiroz.

Iran doubled its lead in the 71st minute when Masoud collected a Teymourian cross and guided the ball past the near post.

Iran and the UAE now share the Group C lead with one win each.

Earlier, Ahmed Khalil and Ali Mabkhout scored two goals apiece as the UAE took advantage of a series of goalkeeping errors to beat Qatar 4-1 in the Group C opener in Canberra.

The Melbourne match was virtually a home game for the Iranians with most of the 17,700-strong crowd at the Rectangular Stadium made up of chanting Iran fans dressed in the team’s white, red and green.

“Thankfully tonight we performed very well and started our opening night with a victory,” Hajsafi said. “I am personally very glad because all the fans who were in the stadium are happy and that was a good start for us.”

The Bahrainis were determined not to be awed by their higher-ranked opponents and took advantage of every opportunity to threaten the Iran goal.

“Bahrain started the game better than us for the first 10 minutes until we were able to settle down our game,” Queiroz said. “It was necessary to play with full concentration and true fighting spirit to stop the movements of Bahrain.”

“After the first ten minutes I think we controlled the game and we created the best opportunities in the game. We scored and I think we deserved to win,” the Portuguese-born coach added.

Iran had three goals called back for offside, while Reza Ghoochannejhad came close to scoring early in the second half when he forced a scrambling save from Abbas with a slow shot from inside the box towards the left corner of the goal.

Bahrain’s best chance of the second half came when Teymourian was called for tripping Faouzi Aaish, but Husain Baba Mohamed’s free kick cleared the wall only to be easily saved by Iran’s keeper Alireza Haghighi.

The Iran team is very strong,” Bahrain coach Marjan Eid said. “I would like to thank my players. We lost three points, but my players did a good job and we have some chance in the second and third matches.”

In Canberra, Qatar goalkeeper Qasem Burhan was at least partially responsible for three goals in a blundering opener for the 2014 Gulf Cup champions.

“He made two mistakes but this is football,” said Qatar coach Djamel Belmadi. “In the previous competition, he was the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Today was not his day... but the defenders also did not help him.”

It was Qatar that took the lead midway through the first half. Majed Naser blocked an initial shot from Mohammed Muntari but Khalfan Ibrahim, positioned on the edge of the area, chested the ball down and lobbed it back beautifully over the head of the retreating UAE goalkeeper.

The UAE equalised nine minutes before the break when Qasem spilled a cross and, after a scramble in a crowded area, a defensive goal-line clearance from a Khalil header bounced off the striker’s chest and into the net.

Khalil’s free kick early in the second half deceived Qasem and bounced into the far corner of the Qatari goal.

Khamis Esmaeel’s well-struck free kick was parried by the Qatari goalkeeper into the path of Mabkhout, who scored into an empty net from close range. The striker added another goal in the 89th, ensuring the UAE scored four goals in an Asian Cup game for the first time.

AMMAN — The Premier Basketball League is scheduled to enter a decisive stage on Sunday when Orthodoxi face titleholders Applied Science University (ASU) while Riyadi play Ittihad.

So far in the second round, Orthodoxi are unbeaten after they scored two wins over Riyadi 97-85 and Ittihad 90-82. Ittihad beat ASU 99-91, ASU beat Riyadi 83-64. Riyadi have not won any games.

The top two teams will advance to the best-of-five finals for the title, while the third and fourth will play the best-of-three play-offs for third place.

The top four advanced to the current round after the preliminary stage ended with ASU in the lead, followed by Orthodoxi, Riyadi and Ittihad.

The bottom four are playing a round of their own to decide the two teams to be relegated. They include Jalil and Gazzet Hashem leading Nashama and Awdeh.

The season’s first basketball competition was won by ASU, who beat Ittihad Schools for the Jordan Cup title. The knockout competition saw Ittihad oust Riyadi 78-77 in the semis as ASU ousted Orthodoxi 92-65.

The Jordan Cup has seen Riyadi win in 2002, 2011 and 2012, Fastlink took the title for four consecutive seasons (2003-2006) , Orthodoxi in 2007, Zain in 2008, ASU in 2010,  2013 and 2014.

Observers have pointed out to a regression that negatively affected the basketball scene in the past few years and hope players and fans will return to the courts and help bring the zeal of competition to Jordan’s second most popular sport.

Last season, ASU beat Ittihad to win the Premier Basketball League for the second consecutive and fourth time in their record, while Riyadi won third place after beating Kulieh. Orthodoxi finished fifth.

In 2011, Orthodoxi ended a 10-year drought and won their record 22nd league title when they beat titleholders ASU. 

The league which started in 1952 has had 58 editions with eight teams crowned champion. It was cancelled in three seasons and discontinued once. Orthodoxi have won 22 times, Ahli 21, Zain (Fastlink) six times, ASU four times, Jazira  (Aramex) twice, Urdun, Watany and the Electricity Company once each.

AMMAN  — Jordan’s national team is all set to play Iraq on Monday in the 16th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2015 Asian Cup which opened in Australia on January 9.

Jordan will play in Group D which includes Iraq, Palestine and Japan with four-time titleholders Japan being the clear contender to lead the group and possibly win the Cup, with the second qualifying spot from the group resting upon Jordan’s opening match against 2011 champs Iraq.

In the latest FIFA World Rankings Jordan dropped 12 spots to 93rd. Other group ranks are: Japan (54), Iraq (114) and Palestine (115). 

A total of 16 teams, including nine Arab teams, are set to compete in the Asian Cup this year with matches set to be played in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle.

Teams include, Group A: Australia, South Korea, Oman and Kuwait.

Group B: Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, China and North  Korea.

Group C: Iran, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1971, this will be Jordan’s third time at the Asian Cup finals — twice reaching the quarter-finals in 2004 and 2011.

Jordan played 10 friendlies in preparation for the Asian Cup and failed to win a single match and drew twice. The latest string of results caused further uneasiness for fans and officials alike. 

Under coach Ray Wilkins, Jordan lost six matches and drew once. Jordan lost 1-0 to both Bahrain and the UAE, and 2-1 to Uzbekistan. Earlier they lost 1-0 to both Estonia and South Korea, lost 1-0 and drew 1-1 to Kuwait, held China 1-1, lost 2-0 to Uzbekistan and 3-0 to Columbia. 

For Arab teams, it is Kuwait’s 10th time in the finals. The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar qualified nine times, Iraq eight times, Bahrain five times and Jordan and Oman three times each. Palestine will take part for the first time. 

In the past 15 finals, Arab teams have won the title five times — Saudi Arabia won three times, Kuwait and Iraq once each.

Jordan Asian Cup record 

Previous appearances in finals: (2) 2004, 2011.

Best performance: Quarter-finals 2004, 2011.

Drawn in Group D with Iraq, Japan and Palestine.

Coach: Ray Wilkins

Former England international and Chelsea, Manchester United and AC Milan midfielder was surprisingly appointed in September.

Key player: Ahmad Hayel. Age: 31. Forward.

Hayel is a talented forward who plays his club football in Kuwait for Al Arabi. He missed the 2011 Asian Cup so will be determined to make up for it in Australia.

He has played over 80 games for Jordan and scored some memorable goals, including a brilliant individual effort in the 2-1 win over Japan in 2014 World Cup qualifying.

FIFA World Rankings December 2014: 81

© Reuters

AMMAN — Jordan’s national team continues training “down under” before heading to Brisbane on Thursday to prepare for the kick off of the 16th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2015 Asian Cup on January 9.

Jordan lost three consecutive friendlies in the past 10 days — 1-0 to Bahrain and the UAE and 2-1 to Uzbekistan — casting much doubt as to the competitive readiness of the Jordanian squad who will play in Group D against Iraq, Palestine and Japan. The defeats were compounded with the injury of star goalie Amer Shafie in the second friendly. 

“We are prepared and hope for some luck as well,” head coach Ray Wilkins said after the Bahrain match. “Of course we were aiming for a win, and we played well, but couldn’t score. We hope to keep fans happy in the official matches,” he added.

Under Wilkins, Jordan lost  six matches and drew one. It clearly has caused some uneasiness for the coach, players, fans and officials alike.

Four-time titleholders Japan is the clear contender to lead the group and possibly win the cup, with the second qualifying spot from the group resting upon Jordan’s opening match against 2011 champs Iraq. 

A total of 16 teams are set to compete in the Asian Cup this year with matches set to be played in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle.

Teams include:

Group A: Australia, South Korea, Oman and Kuwait.

Group B: Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, China and North Korea.

Group C: Iran, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, this will be Jordan’s third time at the Asian Cup finals — twice reaching the quarter-finals in 2004 and 2011.

Jordan went up five spots to 81st in the latest FIFA Rankings after dropping 12 places the month before. Jordan last played Estonia and South Korea, losing 1-0 to both teams. Earlier, they hosted Kuwait in two matches, losing 1-0 and tying 1-1. They held China 1-1, and lost to Uzbekistan 2-0 and Columbia 3-0. 

With the expected backing of European body UEFA, Prince Ali’s hopes of becoming the first Asian president of FIFA will rest on his ability to sway support at home in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

UEFA and AFC members will account for 100 votes — almost half of the total — at the May elections in Zurich, where the 39-year-old Jordanian Royal will stand against Jermone Champagne and, barring a shock U-turn, incumbent Sepp Blatter.

Tuesday’s announcement of Ali’s decision to stand followed UEFA President Michel Platini revealing last month that he did not want to back either Blatter or Champagne and hoped another candidate would emerge.

And stepped forward the Frenchman’s close confidant Prince Ali.

The prince, who said he had been encouraged to stand by his FIFA colleagues, will be able to bank on the support of the 54-member associations of a united UEFA, who have been critical of Blatter.

But a successful election will need votes from elsewhere, and Blatter has already been assured of the support of Africa’s 54 members, Confederation of African Football Secretary General Hicham El Amrani said in September.

Asia is the key battle ground.

Despite being the founder and head of the West Asian Football Federation and the AFC’s FIFA vice president, Prince Ali’s stock in his home continent has dropped since taking on the role at the world governing body in 2011.

Prince Ali lost a political power struggle to AFC President Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa last year, with the Bahraini forcing through policy to ensure the head of the organisation took the FIFA seat on the all-powerful executive committee.

The Bahraini came to power in 2013 with a conclusive election victory after being backed by Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah — the man the prince needs to topple Blatter.

Sheikh Ahmad is the head of the Olympic Council of Asia and the Association of National Olympic Committees, and his support has swayed many a sporting election campaign, with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach among those who have won votes after the Kuwaiti’s backing.

When Blatter spoke at the AFC’s awards dinner in Manila in December he made a point of reaching out to thank and praise Sheikh Ahmad in his pre-dinner speech rather than Sheikh Salman, who had opened proceedings by reiterating the AFC’s full support for Blatter to stand for a fifth term.

Asian members, and in particular the prince, know Sheikh Ahmad can change that and back him as he has done before.

The Kuwaiti was left grinning from ear to ear following the 2011 AFC congress, where Prince Ali surprisingly toppled powerful South Korean Chung Mong-joon for the FIFA vice presidency seat but their relationship is unclear now following Sheikh Salman’s election in 2013.

Despite the political powerplays at the top, Prince Ali has won plaudits for his four years of vice presidential work, where he has increased the number of countries competing in the AFC Champions League, promoted women’s football in Asia and removed the ban on headscarves in the game.

The Asian Football Development Project, a non-profit youth commission he founded in 2012 to develop football across the poorest areas of the continent, will also have curried favour among some Asian members — and he hopes in all powerful Kuwait.

GENEVA — FIFA Vice President HRH Prince Ali will stand for election in a bid to oust Sepp Blatter as leader of football’s scandal-hit world governing body.

The 39-year-old Prince Ali declared his intention Tuesday to run as a candidate in the FIFA presidential election on May 29 in Zurich, where Blatter has pledged to seek a fifth mandate at age 79.

“This was not an easy decision,” the prince said in a single-page statement in which he pledged to run a positive campaign and did not specifically mention Blatter. “It came after careful consideration and many discussions with respected FIFA colleagues over the last few months.”

“The message I heard, over and over, was that it is time for a change,” said Prince Ali, who has been encouraged to run by European football governing body UEFA and its president, Michel Platini.

During Blatter’s 17-year leadership, FIFA has been rocked by bribery allegations in presidential and World Cup hosting elections, kickbacks paid to senior officials and World Cup ticket scams.

FIFA’s image sank further last month when ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia resigned with a parting shot at Blatter’s leadership style and the organisation’s seeming unwillingness to reform itself.

Prince Ali said in his statement Tuesday that “it is time to shift the focus away from administrative controversy and back to sport”.

“The world’s game deserves a world-class governing body — an international federation that is a service organisation and a model of ethics, transparency and good governance,” said Prince Ali, who joined FIFA’s executive committee on the day of Blatter’s most recent
re-election in June 2011.

Blatter has survived by avoiding personal scandal and deft political mastery of an often secretive organisation he joined in 1975. The veteran Swiss official has said his mission to lead world football is unfinished.

FIFA member federations — which elect the president in a secret ballot — have also shown little desire to remove Blatter as they receive increasing shares of billion-dollar annual income from commercial deals tied to the world’s most-watched sports event.

Prince Ali did not specify which five of FIFA’s 209 members will nominate him for the presidency, as required before a January 29 deadline. He is expected to travel to Australia for the Asian Cup, which kicks off Friday, and an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) congress in Melbourne.

While he is likely to get support from much of Europe, he is far from certain to get a majority of support from the Asian confederation, which is led by Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain.

The AFC did not immediately reply to calls or e-mails seeking comment on Prince Ali’s candidacy.

AFC President Sheikh Salman pledged his support for Blatter at the confederation’s 60th anniversary celebrations at Manila in November, confirming earlier support at the AFC congress in June.

“It was a unanimous decision,” Salman said at the time. “After making the decision, we have to support it. We never go back on our words and commitments, that’s how we are.”

Prince Ali has led Jordan’s football federation since 1999 and the following year founded the West Asian Football Federation.

At FIFA, he led the successful campaign to lift a ban on female Islamic players wearing headscarves in its competitions.

Prince Ali’s work in international sport, focusing on youth and women’s football, follows a tradition of Jordan’s Royal family. He is the son of King Hussein and Queen Alia.

His sister, Princess Haya, stepped down last month as an International Olympic Committee member after eight years as president of equestrian’s governing body, and his brother Prince Feisal remains an IOC member.

Educated at schools in England and the United States, Prince Ali graduated from Salisbury School in Connecticut. He attended the elite Sandhurst military academy in England before joining the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army.

He is married to Princess Rym, a former CNN journalist from Algeria, whose father Lakhdar Brahimi has served as a United Nations envoy.

In an interview with The Associated Press on his first official day as a FIFA board member in 2011, Prince Ali lamented FIFA’s focus on internal politics.

“I didn’t play a part in and I don’t want to play a part in it in the future,” he said, days after Blatter’s last election rival, Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar, was implicated in a bribery scandal.

Now, Prince Ali has committed to seeking votes against a battle-hardened incumbent and a possible third candidate, Jerome Champagne of France, a former FIFA staffer and longtime ally of Blatter.

FIFA election rules in the first-round ballot require two-thirds of the votes of present and eligible member federations for victory. A simple majority of valid votes is needed in subsequent rounds.

AMMAN  — The Kingdom’s U-23 football team will play two friendlies this week as it starts the final countdown to the Olympic qualifying journey starting March 25.

The team hosted Oman last week, losing the first match 2-1 before jumping back to win the second encounter 1-0. 

Head coach Jamal Abu Abed said all friendlies were very important before hosting Asian teams ahead of the qualifiers next month.

“All players will have a chance to play in upcoming friendlies as we aim to finalise the line-up soon,” noted Abu Abed, adding that younger players were on par with their teammates who also play on the senior national team.

In the U-23 qualifiers, Jordan will play in Group B alongside hosts Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kuwait hoping to qualify for the 2016 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship which will take place in Qatar. A total of 43 teams entered the qualifiers and will play in 10 groups of five or four teams.

The top team from each of the nine groups in addition to the top second-placed team from groups that have five teams will move to the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship from which the top three advance to the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Last year, Jordan took bronze in the inaugural AFC U-22 Championship after beating South Korea. The event, which has now been renamed the AFC U-23 Championship, saw Iraq beat Saudi Arabia to take the title.

The U-23 team also represented Jordan at the Asian Games where it reached the quarter-finals despite a bumpy preparation period amid the busy agenda of the national team as well as local clubs. Jordan was impressive as the team topped Group G with three wins. In Round 1, Jordan beat the UAE 1-0 win and India 2-0. In Round 2, the team beat Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in extra time. In the quarters, it lost to Thailand 2-0.

Following the Asian Games, the coach recalled other players, including five from the senior national team with the hope of further consolidating the line-up. 

In local friendlies, the team lost to Wihdat 2-0, tied Jazira 1-1 and beat Shabab Urdun 2-1. In regional friendlies, Jordan beat Uzbekistan 2-1, and held Iran, 2-2 and 1-1, Kuwait, 1-1 twice, and Qatar, 0-0. The team finished second at the Palestine International Championship and hosted the England C squad in a historic match, losing 1-0.

BARCELONA, Spain — Fernando Torres could make his Atletico Madrid return seven years after last wearing the red and white-striped shirt when the defending league champions host Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.

The first leg of the last 16 brings together the winners of the last two cups. Madrid eliminated Atletico en route to winning last season.

Atletico have already beaten Madrid in the league this season, and will be looking to build momentum to carry over to the league.

Also, Barcelona will host Elche on Thursday after losing at Real Sociedad in the league over the weekend.

Here are some things to know about this week’s Copa del Rey matches:

Torres returns

Torres has returned to the boyhood club he left in 2007 to go to England, where he flourished at Liverpool before beginning a decline with Chelsea that led to his disappointing stint at AC Milan to start this season.

Now he is back at the club that was a perennial loser when he played there, now transformed into a multi-title winner.

Just how much the 30-year-old Torres can offer a consolidated Atletico squad is to be seen, but he has already shown his ability to thrill their faithful by filling the Vicente Calderon with 45,000 fans who turned out to greet him on Sunday.

Torres arrives with Atletico’s supporters divided in the aftermath of a violent clash between one of the club’s radical fan groups with rival “ultras” of Deportivo La Coruna that left one man dead in November.

The Madrid native called for unity.

“The people who love Atletico know that they win points for the team,” Torres said. “Last year, the team was champion because we won many points here [at home]. On Wednesday, I’m sure we will see a great atmosphere like in other derbies. Atletico is above everything else and our fans will help us win and grow.”

New year

Madrid ended 2014 on a 22-game winning streak across all competitions, a record for a Spanish club.

That came to a halt when Valencia fought back from a goal down to wipe out Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty at Mestalla Stadium and win 2-1.

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti took the loss in stride.

“After 22 wins this could happen,” Ancelotti said. “We’re well positioned in the league. We’re alive in several competitions. This defeat won’t affect us because we have been doing things well.”

Madrid now face a second tough outing against Atletico that have gotten the upper hand of their rivalry after years of Madrid dominance.

Barcelona’s bench

Both of Barcelona’s main sports dailies splashed photos of Lionel Messi, Neymar, Dani Alves and Gerard Pique watching from the bench as Barcelona fell behind early in a 1-0 loss at Real Sociedad on Sunday.

El Mundo Deportivo’s headline read “What a Waste,” while SPORT was more pointed in its criticism of the coach’s decision to rest his stars with the headline “Luis Enrique Throws Away Points”.

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has been criticised all season for his constant changing of his starting 11, and that was only fed by him keeping Messi and Neymar off the field until the second half.

Barcelona face Elche as they prepare for Atletico’s visit in the league next.

First division

With no lower-division sides surviving the round of 32, the rest of the bracket is completed by topflight teams.

Athletic Bilbao visit Celta Vigo on Tuesday, when Malaga host Levante. On Wednesday, it’s: Valencia vs Espanyol, Villarreal vs Real Sociedad and Almeria vs Getafe.

Sevilla visit Granada on Thursday.