Semi finals, first leg

Match played on 20th April

Osasuna 1 - Atlético Madrid 0

Osasuna: Elía; Izquierdo, Cuéllar, Josetxo, Clavero; Valdo (Muñoz 91'), Puñal, Pablo García, Delporte; Morales (Milosevic 88'), Webó (Flaño 84'). 4-4-2.
Atlético: Leo Franco; Velasco (Jorge 85'), Perea, Pablo, Antonio López; Luccin, Marcelo Sosa (Colsa 62'); Gronkjaer, Ibagaza, Nano (Salva 62'); Fernando Torres. 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
1-0. 26. Valdo. Following up after first header from corner blocked.

Osasuna took a big step towards their first ever Spanish cup final after beating Atlético Madrid in the opening game of the semi-finals. The Pamplona based side dominated a rainy first half, and could have scored early on had Leo Franco not kept out efforts from Valdo, Morales and Pablo García. However Valdo finally beat the keeper following a corner, his first header blocked by Gronkjaer but a second shot finding the back of the net.

The visitors hardly caused any problems for local keeper Elía, at least until César Ferrando threw on Colsa and Salva around the hour mark. The keeper had to save from Salva soon after he came on, and stopped a header from Gronkjaer soon afterwards.

But the Pamplona based side were fighting tooth and nail to hold on to their result, so much so that Cuéllar was sent back early to the changing rooms ten minutes from the end after picking up a second yellow card. After that local coach Javier Aguirre ran down the clock with a series of late substitutions, making sure that his side didn't take any risks. It could still go either way in the return leg in three weeks' time, but Osasuna have their noses in front for now.

Match played on 21st April

Betis 0 - Athletic Bilbao 0

Betis: Doblas; Melli, Juanito, Rivas, Luis Fernández; Arzu (Benjamín 73'), Marcos Assunçao; Joaquín, Fernando (Israel 83'), Denilson (Edu 62'); Oliveira. 4-2-3-1.
Athletic: Lafuente; Murillo, Lacruz, Gurpegui, Casas; Tiko, Orbaiz; Etxeberría (Ezquerro 75'), Yeste (Solabarrieta 85'), Del Horno; Llorente (Urzaiz 70'). 4-2-3-1.

Goals: None.

The outcome of the semi-final between Betis and Athletic Bilbao is in the balance after the two sides drew 0-0 in Sevilla. Visiting coach Ernesto Valverde opted to play both Casas and Del Horno on the left hand side to cancel out the threat of Joaquín, with youth international striker Llorente getting the nod up front. Perhaps a bigger surprise though was the inclusion of Denilson in Serra Ferrer's line up, his first start since recovering from a long injury.

Denilson was in action early on setting up Oliveira for him to shoot wide, but from then on it was the visitors who were on top, Tiko unlucky not to be given a penalty by referee Daudén Ibáñez when tripped by Juanito inside the box. Doblas had to be at his best to save from Etxeberría and Yeste, and Del Horno headed Yeste's free kick against the post a couple of minutes before the interval.

Betis had hardly appeared in the first half, but Marcos Assunçao tested Lafuente at the other end after the restart. And a few minutes later Daudén turned down another penalty appeal, this time when Lafuente appeared to bring down Assunçao from behind Otherwise though Valverde's side kept control and came away with the result they wanted, leaving everything to be decided in the San Mamés stadium in three weeks' time.