Semi final, second leg

Match played on 11th February

Sevilla 1 - Real Madrid 0

Sevilla: Esteban; Daniel Alves, Alfaro, Javi Navarro, David; Redondo, Martí, Antonio López (Carlos 70'); Baptista; Antoñito, Darío Silva. 4-3-1-2.
Real Madrid: César; Michel Salgado, Iván Helguera, Raúl Bravo, Roberto Carlos; Beckham (Borja 90'), Guti; Figo, Raúl, Zidane; Ronaldo (Solari 94'). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
1-0. 01. Antonio López. Fired shot into net after Darío Silva laid ball in from right.

Real Madrid are the first side to qualify for the Spanish cup final despite losing 1-0 to Sevilla in a bad tempered second leg tie. Both sides were at full strength for this match, with local manager Joaquín Caparrós putting out an aggressive line up which included three forwards to try and pull back the two goal deficit from the first leg. The move seemed to pay off right from the start, and with less than a minute on the clock Antonio Lopez got on the end of Darío Silva's cross to fire a shot into the roof of the net.

The 45,000 capacity crowd were hoping for a repeat of the 4-1 victory in the league earlier in the season, but after an initial flurry of activity in which César closed down Antoñito and Darío Silva shot wide, the visitors started to get back in the game. Ronaldo forced a good save out of Esteban and Roberto Carlos got the ball in the net only to see it disallowed for offside, and for a few minutes they were back in the driving seat.

But everything changed just before half when Zidane put in a hard tackle on Pablo Alfaro, and the Sevilla captain fell to the ground theatrically after the French midfielder caught him in the face with his hand in the afterplay. Referee Iturralde González controversially produced a red card after consulting with infamous linesman Rafa Guerrero, and the half time whistle went soon afterwards with players and managers still arguing as they entered the tunnel.

Ten minutes in to the second half though numbers were evened up when Javi Navarro picked up a second booking for a foul on Ronaldo, and it was game on again. Carlos Queiroz ordered his men back to defend their advantage, and although Sevilla had most of the ball, the best chances fell to the visitors on the breakaway. Esteban had to be at his best to save a couple of times from Ronaldo and also from Roberto Carlos, and the home side only troubled César with a late effort from Darío Silva which went just wide of the post.

Raúl could have put an end to proceedings when he got free after a quickly taken free kick in injury time, but Esteban pushed his shot onto the crossbar and away for a corner. Queiroz resorted to substitutions though to run down the clock, and when César held on to Baptista's header the game was over. Madrid must now wait to tomorrow to see who their opponents will be, but now they have got this far they must fancy themselves to win the trophy for the first time since 1993.

Match played on 12th February

Zaragoza 0 - Alavés 0

Zaragoza: Lainez (Valbuena 65'); Cuartero (Generelo 60'), Milito, Alvaro, Toledo; Cani, Movilla, Ponzio, Savio (Galletti 31'); David Villa, Dani. 4-4-2.
Alavés: Juan Pablo; Coira, Téllez, Ochoa, Galván; Astudillo, Pablo; Edu Alonso (Eneko Romo 81'), De Lucas, Iván Alonso (Vucko 49'); Rubén Navarro. 4-2-3-1.

Goals: None.

Zaragoza will play Real Madrid in next month's final after they drew 0-0 at home to second division Alavés, Víctor Muñoz's side qualifying on the away goal rule thanks to the 1-1 draw in the first leg the week before. It was not a pretty match though, with both sides not prepared to give an inch of territory to their opponents, and scoring chances were few and far between. Only David Villa caused any real problems for the visiting defence, although Galletti did have a couple of chances late in the first half when he came on for the injured Savio.

The Vitoria based side started well after the break though, with De Lucas going close a couple of times, and Lainez produced the save of the night when he got a hand to Ochoa's effort later on in the half. The goalkeeper injured himself in the play though, and had to be replaced by Valbuena immediately. After that the home side rallied round, and Dani should have done better when presented with a couple of opportunities late on, the ex Barcelona striker still not up to full speed after his long period of inactivity at the Catalan club.

But the Maños had done enough to reach their fourth cup final in ten years, and they now have the chance to take revenge for the only one they lost back in 1993, actually the last time that Real Madrid won the trophy. They are almost sure as well of a place in the UEFA cup, as Madrid will almost definitely qualify for the Champions' League, leaving them the cup winners spot whatever the result in Montjuic.