Real Madrid scrambled through to the final of the King's Cup with a 2-1 aggregate victory over Sevilla on Wednesday, despite having Zinedine Zidane sent off in the first half of a 1-0 second-leg defeat.
Real, leading 2-0 after last week's first leg at the Bernabeu, were shocked when Sevilla took the lead just 45 seconds into the return with a great finish from Antonio Lopez.
Carlos Queiroz's side were in further trouble in the final minute of the first half when French international Zidane, the 2003 FIFA World Player of the Year, was red-carded for an apparent slap to the face of Sevilla defender Pablo Alfaro.
Sevilla rattled the Real defence at the start of the first half but suffered a setback after 54 minutes when Javi Navarro received his second yellow card, evening up the numbers, and Real managed to hold on.
"It was difficult for both sides," said Queiroz. "We hadn't been expecting to concede such an early goal and that gave them a lot of incentive.
"It was difficult for us when we were reduced to 10 men but we were very confident in the dressing room at half-time."
Real Zaragoza and Alaves, level at 1-1 after the first leg, will battle it out for the right to join Real in the final in the second semi-final, second-leg match on Thursday.
QUICK IMPROVEMENT
After being comprehensively outplayed in the first leg in Madrid, Sevilla took less than a minute to muscle their way back into the tie.
Dario Silva outpaced Roberto Carlos on a run down the right and pulled the ball back into the centre. Antonito was just too slow to make contact but Lopez, arriving late, lashed the ball into the roof of the net.
Real, beaten 4-1 the last time they played away to Sevilla, looked set for another humiliating defeat as the Andalucians cut through their defence but Julio Baptista and Dario both missed good chances from inside the box.
The frantic pace of Sevilla's attacks gradually dropped and Raul and Ronaldo both had long-range shots that might have settled the tie.
Zidane's sending-off was just the spur Sevilla needed but after one good effort from Baptista early in the second half, following a neat pass from Dario, the referee made it 10-a-side with Navarro's second yellow card.
Sevilla continued to charge forward and Ronaldo twice went close on the break, Esteban saving well each time.
Carlitos missed the home side's best chance 10 minutes from time when he was put clean through on goal only to make a mess of his control and allow Cesar to block.
