Real Madrid, Alaves, Sevilla reach Cup semis
29/01/2004
Real Madrid, Alaves, Sevilla reach Cup semis |
MADRID, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Second division Alaves reached the semi-finals of
the King's Cup with a 4-3 aggregate victory over Celta Vigo, despite losing
1-0 to the Primera Liga strugglers in Wednesday's second leg.
Real
Madrid and Sevilla joined Alaves in the last four by completing emphatic
aggregate wins over Valencia and Atletico Madrid in the day's other
quarter-finals.
Real,
leading 3-0 after the first leg at the Bernabeu, won the return 2-1 with goals
from Raul and Zinedine Zidane to make it 5-1 overall.
Sevilla put behind them the sale of Spanish international forward Jose Antonio
Reyes to Arsenal by booking their place in the semis, completing an emphatic 6-1
aggregate victory over Atletico Madrid with a 2-1 win at the Calderon.
With
prospective new coach Radomir Antic watching from the stands, Celta started well
enough but spurned several early chances and became frustrated as Alaves closed
them down in midfield.
Celta
finally managed to get the ball in the net midway through the second half when
Alaves keeper Juan Pablo fumbled a Gustavo Lopez free kick, but the visitors won
through to the semis with a disciplined defensive display.
HUGE
LEADS
There
was never any doubt about the outcome of Wednesday's other two ties, with Real
Madrid and Sevilla both holding huge leads after the first legs.
Raul
ended all hopes of a heroic Valencia comeback when he raced on to a sharp
through ball from Ronaldo to guide home on 14 minutes.
Ronaldo could have made the Valencia task even more difficult if he had not
missed the target with an angled drive just before halftime.
Valencia created several chances against a Real side missing suspended
midfielder David Beckham, but their only reward came when substitute Xisco
nodded into an open goal after fellow striker Mista had headed on to the bar 16
minutes from time.
Valencia were denied the slim satisfaction of a draw on the night when Zidane's
free kick ricocheted in off the wall and past helpless keeper Andres Palop two
minutes into injury-time.
In the
remaining quarter-final, Barcelona will be looking to turn the tie around after
their disappointing 1-0 home defeat when they travel to Real Zaragoza on
Thursday.
By
Simon Baskett