Madrid, Jan 15 (IANS): Racing Santander produced what is certain to be the shock of the Copa del Rey football when they qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition thanks to a 2-0 win away to Almeria.

Racing may now play in the third tier of Spanish football, but two years ago the club was playing in the Primera Liga and Tuesday they used that experience to defeat Almeria, who had been clear favourites to make it into the last 8 after a 1-1 draw in Santander a week ago, reports Xinhua.

Almeria had been thrashed 6-1 away to Athletic Club Bilbao on Saturday and were lacking in confidence against a side which had travelled with nothing to lose.

Mariano Sanz scored the first goal of the game with a fine headed goal after 62 minutes and Roberto Duran netted a magnificent second goal with 11 goals left.

The second goal left Almeria needing to score three goals in just 11 minutes and there was no chance of that happening and now Racing's reward is a quarter-final tie against either Villarreal or Real Sociedad.

Recent arrival Jose Ernesto Sosa made his debut for Atletico Madrid as the Cup holders progressed to the last eight with a 2-0 win over Valencia which gave them a 3-1 aggregate win.

Diego Godin took advantage of an error from Valencia goalkeeper, Vicente Guaita to open the scoring six minutes after the break and Raul Garcia sealed the win a minute from time on a night when Atletico goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois produced another stunning performance and Valencia saw midfielder Dani Parejo sent off for two yellow cards.