نقلا عن موقع النادي الملكي

4-0: Pride for the Whites, and superb fans!

How unjust football can be. It was an evening where an epic was about to become reality. The Bernabéu were not able to celebrate for the lack of just one goal. Because Cicinho, Robinho, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos had put qualification within grasp, but luck turned her back on the team when they most needed it. Thank you team, thank you fans, for an unforgettable evening.
And so, suddenly, Zaragoza found themselves in the middle of a crazy group made up of the players and the fans. The Santiago Bernabéu, the greatest pressure cooker in the world of football. From hours before, around the pitch, before warm up and all the way until the end of the game, nobody, not one Madrid soul would give up on their passion. Because nobody remembered the vital setback of the previous match. Guti, despite his heroic efforts, could not recover and he had to watch the hope-giving comeback from the
The White tempest
There was no time to evaluate how Madrid were going to play, Cicinho put the ball in the net (1st min), Robinho overcame César with a low shot (4th min), and Ronaldo, from the precise marksmanship from Beckham (9th min). The public went crazy, Raúl jumped up from where he was sitting… and Zaragoza started to see their worst nightmare come true. They only needed two goals in eighty minutes and their momentum gave hope for emotions that would be difficult to repeat in the future. López Caro had opened up the way for Beckham –superb in the first half - and Robinho on the wings. And above all, the Englishman drove Víctor Múñoz mad. Because Toledo, their supposed scorer, was the greatest spectator to the efforts of the great efforts of the numbers ‘23’.

The only weapon Zaragoza had was to look for counterattacks from Ewerthon, as Milito, the executioner of La Romareda, was nowhere to be seen. Madrid were a tornado, and a lot of chances came up, even though Casillas, who also wanted to play a starring role, knocked out a header from the Brazilian winger. The right wing was a way through for the Whites, as Toledo did not seem like they'd even got off the train that had brought them to the capital. The public kept the pressure on, kept pushing the Madrid players. Before halftime, Baptista and Ronaldo had the chance of allowing the team to qualify, but their shots came to nothing. As they watched, the public remembered the two disallowed penalties by Pérez Burrull at Zaragoza, which would have allowed Madrid, with this score, to go into the final.
And the fourth comes...
There were forty five minutes left to wait, to hope, but already nobody could have any recriminations for the team. They had will power, courage, and they had flattened the Zaragoza players. If in the first half the starring role was that of Cicinho and Beckham, in the second it was Roberto Carlos and Robinho who kept possession. The outlook was the same and there was everything to play for with such football. And meanwhile, Cassano warmed up on the sideline in case his presence should be needed. Time was against the Whites, as one hour of play had already passed… and Roberto Carlos found the landmark, the comeback they had been hoping for the last six days, from a pass. His thundering shot from the front was the fourth and new oxygen for eighty thousand enthusiastic fans (60th min).

“Illa, illa, illa, Juanito Maravilla”... Chanted the Bernabéu as everything was possible on such a fantastic night, whatever might happen. It would be so unfair if the fifth should escape them, with the hopes of a team who had done everything that had been asked of them by their fans, a heroic effort. And panic struck when Ewerthon scored but the referee disallowed it as offside. Frightening. And there was once again an image similar to that of last Wednesday, when Baptista fell, and the referee was looking the other way. It just wasn't coming, and fatigue started to take its toll. They could not let themselves flag, as the prize was so great.

The last balls were for Cassano and Diogo, as already strengths were waning. Woodgate went forward, and there were only long balls left. Beckham was exhausted, and Zaragoza were just wasting time. And it ended, it escaped. But nobody left with their head bowed as they had done the impossible to try and get to the final of the Copa del Rey. The team and their fans deserve ten out of ten for their impeccable commitment.


STATISTICS:
4 – REAL MADRID: Casillas; Cicinho, Woodgate, Sergio Ramos, Roberto Carlos; Gravesen (Cassano 82nd min), Zidane, Beckham, Robinho; Baptista (Diogo 82nd min) and Ronaldo.
0 – REAL ZARAGOZA: César; Ponzio, Toledo (Generelo 80th min), Milito, Álvaro; Celades, Cani, Óscar, Zaparter; Ewerthon (Sergio García 86th min) and Diego Milito (Capi 89th min).
GOALS:
1-0, min. 1: Cicinho with a superb shot from the front.
2-0, min. 4: Robinho finishes off a group play.
3-0, min. 9: Ronaldo with accuracy knocks a centre from Beckham into the net.
4-0, min. 60: Roberto Carlos with a thundering shot from the front.
REFEREE: González Vázquez (Galician committee). Booked Beckham (41st min), Óscar (46th min), Cani (49th min), Baptista (58th min), Ponzio (71st min), Zapater (78th min).
OTHER INFORMATION: Second leg of the semi-finals of the Cup of H.M. the King played at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in front of 75,000 spectators (full). Zaragoza, first finalist.