Soccer Football - Spanish King's Cup - Deportivo Alaves vs Valencia - Quarter Final Second Leg - Estadio Mendizorroza, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain - January 24, 2018 Valencia players celebrate winning the penalty shootout REUTERS/Vincent West
MADRID, Jan 24 - Real Madrid suffered a humiliating 2-1 home defeat by Leganes on Wednesday to exit the King's Cup at the quarter-final stage on away goals.
A much-changed Real side, missing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, held a 1-0 advantage from the first leg but their troubled season hit a new low as they were outplayed by a team lying 13th in La Liga.
Leganes started brightly and Claudio Beauvue sent a free kick against the post in the opening exchanges.
Soccer Football - Spanish King's Cup - Real Madrid vs Leganes - Quarter Final Second Leg - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - January 24, 2018 Real Madrid’s Achraf Hakimi in action with Leganes' Diego Rico REUTERS/Juan Medina
The visitors were deservedly level on aggregate after half an hour as a mishap between Achraf Hakimi and Nacho allowed Javier Eraso the space to produce a stunning finish from outside the box.
Beauvue sent a volley into the side netting on the stroke of halftime as a shell-shocked Real were jeered off the pitch at the break.
That appeared to bring about a reaction from the home side and Karim Benzema produced a neat finish from an acute angle immediately after the restart to put Zinedine Zidane’s men ahead on aggregate.
Soccer Football - Spanish King's Cup - Real Madrid vs Leganes - Quarter Final Second Leg - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - January 24, 2018 Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema celebrates scoring their first goal with Lucas Vazquez while Leganes' Javier Eraso looks dejected REUTERS/Juan Medina
Leganes centre-back Dimitris Siovas missed a gilt-edged chance as he headed back across the six-yard box with the goal gaping, but moments later Gabriel Pires made no mistake as he thumped home a header to put Leganes through on away goals. They joined Valencia, who defeated last season’s finalists Alaves on penalties earlier on Wednesday, and Sevilla, who knocked out Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, in the draw for the last four.
League leaders Barcelona host Espanyol on Thursday, trailing 1-0 from the first leg in the last quarter-final.
Soccer Football - Spanish King's Cup - Deportivo Alaves vs Valencia - Quarter Final Second Leg - Estadio Mendizorroza, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain - January 24, 2018 Valencia's Goncalo Guedes pulls the shirt of Alaves’ Alfonso Pedraza REUTERS/Vincent West
(Reporting by Joseph Cassinelli, editing by Ed Osmond)
Soccer Football - Spanish King's Cup - Real Madrid vs Leganes - Quarter Final Second Leg - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - January 24, 2018 Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane REUTERS/Juan MedinaSoccer Football - Spanish King's Cup - Real Madrid vs Leganes - Quarter Final Second Leg - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - January 24, 2018 Leganes' Javier Eraso celebrates scoring their first goal with team mates REUTERS/Juan MedinaSoccer Football - Spanish King's Cup - Deportivo Alaves vs Valencia - Quarter Final Second Leg - Estadio Mendizorroza, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain - January 24, 2018 Alaves’ Hernan Perez looks dejected after losing the penalty shootout REUTERS/Vincent WestSoccer Football - Spanish King's Cup - Real Madrid vs Leganes - Quarter Final Second Leg - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - January 24, 2018 Leganes' Javier Eraso celebrates scoring their first goal with team mates REUTERS/Juan MedinaSoccer Football - Spanish King's Cup - Deportivo Alaves vs Valencia - Quarter Final Second Leg - Estadio Mendizorroza, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain - January 24, 2018 Alaves look dejected after losing the penalty shootout REUTERS/Vincent West
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