Copa del Rey – Atletico Cruise Past Betis

Atletico Madrid take healthy lead for the second leg as they defeated Real betis 2-0 in the first leg of the quarter finals last night. Diego Simeone’s men cruise past Betis with early first half goals to take one step closer to the semi finals of Copa del Rey.
Thibaut Courtois, the keeper loaned from Chelsea came up with decent performance on the night to make sure that his side does not concede. The Belgian goalie diminished all the hopes of a comeback for the away side. At the half hour mark, Courtois made a fantastic double save to keep out the visitors.
Adding to his brilliant first 45 minutes performance, the former Genk goalie came up with another significant block in the opening minutes of the second period when he denied Jorge Molina’s strike to maintain the clean sheet.
On the other hand, the prolific Falcao was not going to be out of spotlight as he opened the scoring for the home side in the 11th minute.
The Colombian pounced on to a cross provided by Raul Garcia and did what he does best, blasting the ball in the net to give Atletico a deserved lead. 12 minutes later , Betis were unable to clear Mario Suarez’s free kick and Filipe Luis capitalized on the opportunity with a fantastic finish to make it 2-0.
The visitors relatively played better in the second half, controlling the ball well and keeping possession but failed to take advantage of any chance as Atletico’s defense was resilient in diffusing the opposition’s attacking threat.
Copa del Rey is perhaps Atletico’s best chance of winning silverware this season. Although they are currently 2nd in the league but Barca have a healthy lead and are getting stronger by the minute. On the other hand, retaining Europa league will be a tough task as well.
Diego Simeone will be looking to finish the job with ease in the second leg. The winner will lock horns with either Sevilla or Real Zaragoza in the last four of the competition and Atletico will be favorites to reach the final and have all the chance to lift the coveted trophy.