CRISTIANO RONALDO SCORED twice from the penalty spot and was also hit on the head by a lighter thrown from the crowd as Real Madrid sealed their place in the Copa del Rey final with a 2-0 win (5-0 on aggregate) over holders Atletico Madrid.
Any chance of Atletico recovering from their 3-0 defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu last week was extinguished after just seven minutes when Ronaldo opened the scoring after being upended by Manquillo.
The Portuguese star doubled his tally nine minutes later from another penalty as this time Gareth Bale was felled by Emiliano Insua.
Ronaldo’s eventful evening continued as, moments after being booked for a clash with Manquillo, he was then hit by a lighter thrown by the Atletico fans as the players headed to the dressing rooms at half-time.
The Ballon d’Or winner was however fit to continue at the start of the second-half before being substituted late on.
Real will face either Barcelona or Real Sociedad in the final on April 19 with Barca holding a 2-0 advantage heading into the second leg of their semi-final on Wednesday.
Atletico boss Diego Simeone appeared to have given up any hope of an unlikely comeback from the off as he rested Juanfran, Diego Godin, Arda Turan and captain Gabi, whilst four more first-team regulars missed out through injury and suspension.
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti by contrast named a strong side and was rewarded with the away goal that killed the tie off when Ronaldo converted from the spot after tumbling under Manquillo’s clumsy challenge inside the area.
Atletico briefly threatened a revival when Raul Garcia struck the post moments later.
However, it was 2-0 after just 16 minutes as this time Bale went down under a challenge by Insua and Ronaldo again struck the resulting spot-kick low into the right-hand corner of Daniel Aranzubia’s net.
With the tie effectively over as a contest, the only spice was added by unfortunate events off the field as Ronaldo was struck as he headed towards the tunnel at half-time.
The former Manchester United man did return for the second period, but he was unable to complete his hat-trick before being replaced by Jese Rodriguez 15 minutes from time.
Bale and Isco both had efforts well saved by Aranzubia as Real continued to look the more likely to score after the break.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Jose Sosa’s drive that forced Iker Casillas into a flying save was the best that Atletico could muster as they slipped to their first home defeat of the season.
- © AFP 2014.
