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Real Madrid cruised into the semi-finals of the Spanish King's Cup on

Thursday with a 1-0 win away to local rivals Atletico.





The whites go into the semis on a comfortable 4-1 aggregate, since

they won the home leg 3-1 last week. They will now face holders Sevilla

next week, who brushed aside Villarreal on a 6-3 aggregate.





The other semi-final will be between favourites Barcelona and

surprise package Almeria. Barca overcame second division Betis in the

quarter-finals, Almeria thrashed Deportivo Coruna.





Atletico, who have not won a Madrid derby match since 1999, never

looked capable of turning the tie around, especially after winger Jose

Antonio Reyes limped off injured early on.





Atletico went into the game with more hope than expectation, due to

the result of the first leg and to the absence of injured star striker

Sergio Aguero.





The latest defeat against Real will increase the pressure on coach

Quique Sanchez Flores, for whom nothing has gone right since winning the

Europa League eight months ago.





Real, for their part, went into the game with rumours about coach

Jose Mourinho wanting to leave, due to his bitter feud with Jorge

Valdano, the club's general director.





Atletico made an uncertain start, with veteran forward Diego Forlan

keen but out of form.





Ronaldo silenced the Estadio Calderon in the 24th minute by scoring a

killer away goal. Xabi Alonso released Sergio Ramos down the right and

Ronaldo turned in the latter's centre for the only goal of the night.





Atletico huffed and puffed manfully until the end, but gradually ran

out of faith and ideas. Once again, they had been put in their place by

their eternal rivals.