Alavés 3 - Rayo Vallecano 0

Alavés: Herrera; Contra (Karmona 85'), Eggen, Téllez, Geli; Tomic, Pablo; Azkoitia (Iván Alonso 60'), Jordi Cruyff, Ibon Begoña; Javi Moreno (Vucko 75'). 4-2-3-1.
Rayo: Lopetegui; Alcázar, De Quintana, Ballesteros, Mingo (Setvalls 61'); Helder, Poschner, Quevedo (Glaucio 42'), Michel; Cembranos (Bolic 55'), Bolo. 4-4-1-1.

Goals:
1-0. 29. Azkoitia. Beat keeper from close up after mistake by Rayo defence.
2-0. 79. Eggen. Near post header after corner from Ibon Begoña from left.
3-0. 81. Vucko. First time volley from two metres out after Iván Alonso cross.

Two late goals from Alavés gave the Vitoria side an almost unassailable advantage for the second leg in the other fratricidal duel between Spanish teams at the quarter final stage. The home side took the lead through Azkoitia after a defensive mix up, the ball falling at his feet in front of goal after De Quintana's attempted clearance hit his own colleague Alcázar. Earlier the acting captain had hit the crossbar with a shot, although the referee eventually ruled the move out for a foul. Nerves were obvious on both sides, with the play constantly being broken up by fouls and offside decisions. Still there were goal chances for both teams, with Geli involved at both ends, clearing from Quevedo and then forcing a good save out of Lopetegui near half time.

Juande Ramos brought on Glaucio for a not fully fit Quevedo before half time, the midfielder only having returned from injury for this match, and ten minutes in to the second half he brought on another forward Bolic for Luis Cembranos. Then disaster struck for Rayo when Mingo and Helder clashed heads, both falling to the ground with bad cuts. The full back was unable to continue and was carried off to hospital immediately, but with all substitutes used Helder asked for his wound to be patched up and he carried on. After the match he too was taken to the hospital where he needed 14 stitches to repair the damage.

With 20 minutes to go Geli was brought down in the area by Glaucio, but the Dutch referee Jan Wegereef booked him for diving rather than awarding a penalty. Mané brought on his regulation two forwards, with the introduction of Iván Alonso in particular moving the game up a gear, and Rayo's rearguard action finally crumbled under the pressure from the wave of pink shirts. Two goals in three minutes near the end left their dreams in tatters, and 'el glorioso' go on to what will surely be a place in the semi-finals in their first ever appearance in Europe. Mané will surely have a statue built in his honour in the Basque capital when this is all over.