Copa del Rey

Quarter finals, second leg

Match played on 28th January

Atlético Madrid were knocked out of the cup after drawing 0-0 at home against a battling Recreativo Huelva. Luis Aragonés' side were hoping to win through to this year's final, which is programmed to be played in their own Vicente Calderón stadium in this their centenary year, and the manager put out his strongest side to try and win the tie. However they were unable to break down a well organised defence, who resorted to every trick in the book to defend their single goal lead from the first leg. Most of the game was played in the visitors' half, but Atlético only managed to carve out a couple of clear cut chances in the ninety minutes which keeper Luque dealt with without too many problems. Recreativo, who are the league's oldest club, go through to the semi-finals of the competition for only the second time in their 113 year history.


Matches played on 29th January

A scandalous result in the San Moix stadium, where Mallorca beat Real Madrid 4-0 to leave the Spanish capital without representation in the cup semi-finals. Even though his side had only draw in the first leg Del Bosque opted once again to rest most of his first choice players, with only Zidane, Raúl and Iván Helguera lining up in the starting eleven. However within eight minutes they were behind, Fernando Niño heading past César following a corner, and Eto'o came close to scoring twice before he finally got the better of the keeper on the half hour mark to make it two. Five minutes later Miguel Soler produced an electrifying run down the left wing to set up Eto'o for a third goal, and by half time it was all over. Solari came on for Zidane at the break, but soon afterwards Riera hit the bar and then a minute later Pandiani joined in the fun, combining with Ibagaza to score the fourth. César saved from Riera, Eto'o and Marcos to stop the score getting any bigger, but it was all academic and Mallorca's name will be in the hat on Friday's draw.

Osasuna are the third team to reach the last four of the competition after they won a thrilling match 3-2 in extra time against Sevilla. Playing conditions were difficult, ground staff having cleared five centimetres of snow off the pitch before kick off, and for the first 75 minutes there was no sign of the excitement to come as Osasuna defended their slender lead thanks to an away goal in last week's first leg draw. Then Puñal scored from a free kick for the locals, and with the 90 minutes coming to a close Aguirre's side looked as if they were going through. However substitute Atoñito equalised following a corner two minutes from the end to send the game into extra time. Palacios headed the home side back in front during the first period, but Brit missed the chance to wrap things up a few minutes later, and the visitors scored again at the beginning of the second period through Casquero to level the scores and give them the away goal advantage. Osasuna threw everything forward, and five minutes from the end Notario brought down Brit in the area, and the referee awarded a penalty. Muñoz fired his spot kick past the keeper, and when Sevilla's Torrado got his marching orders for a second bookable offence two minutes from the end the game was finished.


Match played on 30th January

Another goal fest in the fourth quarter final, with reigning champions Deportivo La Coruña finally going through on the "away goals" rule despite losing 4-3 at Murcia. The tie appeared to be settled with less than half an hour on the clock when Diego Tristán scored two opportunist goals in five minutes to add to his side's one goal lead from the first leg. However the second division leaders came back, and David Karanka got ahead of his marker to head a long cross past the committed Juanmi ten minutes before the break. Even so nobody really expected David Vidal's side to recover, but within ten minutes of the restart they were leading on the night, with Juanma heading over Juanmi to level the scores and then referee Medina Cantalejo awarding a rigorous penalty when Juanma's shot hit Capdevila on the arm at point blank range, Tito converting the kick. Another goal would have put Murcia ahead in the tie, but a fantastic first time volley from outside of the area by Manuel Pablo just before the hour mark made it all square once again. Still it was not over though, and seven minutes before the end Albiol headed a long free kick past a shaky Juanmi to set up a thrilling last few minutes.