Madrid scrape past Sevilla
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Article summary
Real Madrid CF survived a 1-0 loss to reach the Spanish Cup final as aggregate winners over Sevilla FC.
Article body
Early lead
Sevilla, trailing 2-0 from the first leg, narrowed the deficit after just 30 seconds when a quick attack saw Darío Silva feed Antonio López, who shot into the roof of the net.
Zidane sent off
After César Sánchez had denied Antoñito on the quarter-hour, Sevilla kept pressing and Madrid's problems increased shortly before half-time when Zinedine Zidane was sent off by referee Iturralde González for slapping Pablo Alfaro in the face. The red card means he will miss this weekend's league meeting with title rivals Valencia CF.
Another dismissal
Eight minutes after the break Sevilla too were reduced to ten men as Javi Navarro received his second yellow card for felling Ronaldo. The home goalkeeper Esteban, meanwhile, did well to block a Ronaldo effort a couple of minutes later.
Near things
There were near things at both ends in the closing minutes. Silva stabbed just wide for Sevilla before Raúl González let loose an opportunistic effort from long range that was tipped to safety by Esteban. The other semi-final between Real Zaragoza and second division Deportivo Alavés will be settled tomorrow night with the final scheduled for 17 March.
