Quarter final, first leg

Matches played on 21st January

Real Madrid came out 3-0 winners of their top of the table cup tie with Valencia, and are now strong favourites to reach the semi-finals. The early chances fell to the visitors, with Mista in particular failing to find the target twice in the opening minutes. Raúl put the hosts ahead ten minutes before the break though when he headed Solari's cross down past Palop following a quick passing move out of defence. Ronaldo missed a chance to make it two on the hour mark, but did find the target ten minutes from the end when he rounded Esteban to score, referee Medina Cantalejo waving play on seconds earlier after Figo was brought down. And Figo added a third five minutes later from the penalty spot after Medina ruled that Raúl was fouled by Marchena, ignoring protests from the Valencia players that the defender had played the ball cleanly. Both sides ended the match with ten men after Beckham and then Albelda were sent off for rigorous second bookable offences, and the two midfielders will miss next Wednesday's second leg in the Mestalla stadium.

Sevilla are also virtually in the semi-finals after a 4-0 win over Atlético Madrid. The Andalucians raced into a three goal lead within the first half hour of the match, thanks in large part to visiting keeper Mono Burgos, who was returning to the side from injury. A terrible mistake from the eccentric keeper allowed Darío Silva to open the scoring early on, his attempt to clear the striker's header with his shoulder rather than his hand going horribly wrong. And he should perhaps have done better when Reyes scored the second from outside of the area, and Pablo Alfaro added a third with a header from a Reyes corner. Visiting manager Gregorio Manzano had put out a weakened line up, but was forced to bring on Ibagaza and Fernando Torres at half time. Ibagaza did hit the post as his side came out looking for the away goal, but Baptista made it four with a free kick later on to complete the rout. The only down side for the Andalucians was the sending off of Javi Navarro for a second booking five minutes from the end, but his absence next Thursday is unlikely to be a problem.

Matches played on 22nd January

A Rubén Navarro hat-trick gave second division Alavés a 4-2 win over Celta, setting them up for a possible place in the semi-finals for the second time in their history. The Vitoria based side found themselves behind in the ninth minute when the Galicians' new signing Pinilla headed home Luccin's free kick. For a few minutes it appeared that the first division side were going to over-run their opponents, but Navarro struck midway through the first half to level the scores, finishing off after Magno slid the ball across goal from Pablo's long pass. Vucko headed Coira's cross against the bar soon afterwards, and Navarro got his second of the night shortly before the break with a long free kick which went in off the post, leaving Cavallero with no chance. Now Celta were on the back foot, but Pinilla equalised three minutes in to the second half with his second goal after Mostovoi's effort was blocked, and the Galicians seemed to be back on top. However Rubén Navarro completed his hat-trick two minutes later to restore the lead after Magno set him up, and then returned the favour to his Brazilian team mate for him to score a fourth soon afterwards. Lotina replaced Pinilla with Milosevic, and the Serbian headed just wide soon after coming on. But this was another magic night for "El Glorioso", whose fans have seen a good cup run or two in their recent history.

Zaragoza's new manager Víctor Muñoz got off to the best possible start, leading his side to a 0-1 victory against a Barcelona team who had beaten them comfortably in the league only ten days ago. Víctor changed the line up completely on his return to the Nou Camp, a ground where he played for many years, with five at the back and Yordi and Drulic starting up front. The visitors' well ordered defence kept out the three-pronged attack of Ronaldinho, Saviola and Kluivert in a dull first half, and Drulic and Savio both went close on rapid breakaways. It was a hard game, with referee Megia Dávila showing eleven yellow cards, although he let Kluivert off a red when his tackle on Savio took the ex Real Madrid winger out of the game late in the first half. The Dutch forward himself was substituted after the break to boos from the crowd after reports in the press that he had been fined by the club for turning up late (and some say drunk) for training. There was very little football on show too in the second 45 minutes, although Saviola should have scored when Ronaldinho set him up. The only goal though came a quarter of an hour from the end when Megia awarded a much-protested penalty for a push by Gerard on Drulic, and half time substitute David Villa had to beat Víctor Valdés twice as his first kick was ruled out for encroachment into the area by visiting players. It was Zaragoza's first win in the Nou Camp for 39 years, and they should finish things off in the return leg next Thursday.