Deportivo draw 1-1 at Alicante

Madrid:

A 79th-minute goal by Deportivo de La Coruna substitute Sergio Gonzalez on Tuesday earned the defending champion a 1-1 draw at giant-killer Alicante in a third-round first-leg match. The Spanish international midfielder struck a long shot from outside the area which slipped through the grasp of the regional third-division team's goalkeeper Miguel Angel Espana. Alicante, which was the surprise conqueror of Espanyol and Valencia in the previous rounds, had appeared to be on the way to another famous victory thanks to striker Javier Morante's 38th-minute header. The home side battled hard with midfielder German Manogil rattling the Deportivo crossbar in the 26th minute with a long shot. However, Sergio's equalizer looks to have ended the minnow's fine run and made Deportivo the clear favorite to reach the last eight of the competition. The teams meet in the second leg in La Coruna next week.