King’s Cup: Celta end Real Madrid’s treble hopes
Madrid, Jan 26 (IANS) Real Madrid’s chances of a domestic and European treble were ended after they were knocked out of the King’s Cup by Celta Vigo.
A 2-2 draw in an entertaining match on Wednesday in Celta’s Balaidos Stadium was enough to see Celta into the semi-finals following their 2-1 win in the Santiago Bernabeu a week ago, Xinhua news agency reported.
Although nobody could question Madrid’s commitment and personality, they lacked discipline in the return leg and paid the price when much-criticized right back Danilo put through an own-goal after John Guidetti’s shot had been blocked by Kiko Casilla.
Celta had chances to kill the game off on the break but failed to take their chances, and a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick just after the hour left Madrid within one goal of forcing extra time.
The game hung in the balance until five minutes from time when Daniel Wass restored Celta’s lead following a corner, and although Lucas Vazquez’s 90th minute equalizer made it 2-2 on the night, Madrid ran out of time and Celta qualified 4-3 on aggregate.
Earlier in the day, Atletico Madrid assured their place in the last four with a 2-2 win away to Eibar which gave them a 5-2 aggregate tally.
Jose Gimenez opened the scoring for Atletico in the second half before Sergi Enrich and Pedro Leon put Eibar 2-1 up on the night only for Juanfran to even out the score in the 85th minute.
Tuesday saw Alaves reach the last four for the first time in 13 years after a 0-0 draw at home to Alcorcon saw them assure a 2-0 aggregate triumph.
Thursday sees Barcelona defend a first leg 1-0 lead at home to Real Sociedad in the Camp Nou Stadium.