Subtle ties for Spanish King's Cup return legs

This week sees the return fixtures in the last 16 of the Spanish King's Cup knockout competition with several ties hanging in the balance.

Tuesday sees new Betis coach Juan Merino take his side across town to face Sevilla in the third Seville derby in less than three weeks.

Betis have to overcome a 2-0 home defeat in the first leg, so Sevilla are clear favorites to get through what is likely, however, to be a physical affair.

Deportivo la Coruna are favorites to get past second division side Mirandes after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, but will be wary after their rivals disposed of Malaga in the last round.

The remaining games are on Wednesday and Thursday with Athletic Club Bilbao, who have lost midfielder, Raul Garcia for 6 weeks with a knee injury, defending a slender 3-2 advantage away to Villarreal.

FC Barcelona take a 4-1 advantage to Cornella to face local rivals Espanyol in a game where tensions are running high after two bad-tempered games between the two sides. Luis Suarez is suspended for an incident in the players' tunnel after the first leg, while Hernan Perez is out for Espanyol.

Both coaches, Luis Enrique and Constantin Galca are believed to have spoken in order to calm the tempers of their respective players.

In Wednesday's remaining games, Las Palmas are at home to Eibar after a 3-2 first leg win, while Celta can expect to stroll past third tier Cadiz after beating them 3-0 away from home a week ago.

Thursday will see Granada look for a miracle at home to Valencia, after losing 4-0 in the Mestalla Stadium, while there is a Madrid derby to round things off as Atletico Madrid entertain struggling Rayo Vallecano in the Vicente Calderon Stadium with the tie in the balance following last week's 1-1 draw in Vallecas. Endit