Ronaldo scores free-kick at last but Real Madrid crash out of Copa del Rey

Real Madrid crashed out of the Copa del Rey as calamity full back Danilo put through his own goal for the second time this month despite Cristiano Ronaldo's best efforts with a second-half free-kick.

Zinedine Zidane's team came into the game at Celta's Balaidos Stadium 2-1 down from the first leg after Iago Aspas and Jonny Castro had given the underdogs the lead at the Santiago Bernabeu.

But things went against them in the first half as they tried to get back on level terms. Ronaldo could have levelled the tie on aggregate but first he saw his header from Isco's cross pushed on to the bar by Celta goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez. Then when the ball came back out to him he could not adjust his feet and instead of a right foot finish, he sent a left-foot shot on to the post. 

Things went from bad to worse for Madrid and full back Danilo on 44 minutes when the home side took the lead on the night. 

Iago Aspas, the former Liverpool forward, flicked the ball through to John Guidetti and when his shot was saved by Kiko Casilla it hit back-tracking Danilo and rolled into the net.

The defender scored an own goal in the last round powering a header past his own keeper against Sevilla. 

His confidence has been shot of late to the point where he was kept on the bench by Zidane at the Bernabeu at the weekend to save him from the boo boys. 

His relationship with his own supporters will not have improved by this latest showing and Madrid now needed a second-half miracle.

If anyone can come up with a miracle it's Ronaldo and when he was fouled by Gustavo Cabral on 61 minutes it was a case of cometh the hour cometh the man.  

The Portugal star's free-kick didn't seem to bend or dip but it was hit with such force that it went past the wall and Alvarez to make the score 1-1. Real Madrid now only needed a goal to take the game to extra-time. 

 

But as they poured forward Celta got their golden goal to surely kill off the tie. Daniel Wass played the ball to substitute Jozabed and he laid it back to the Dane who calmly found the back of the net.

 

Madrid never know when they are beaten and on 90 minutes Lucas Vazquez headed in a corner leaving them needing one more goal to go through and four injury-time minutes to score it.

But the goal never came and Madrid crashed out of the; their chance of a treble this season, gone.  Mail Online

 

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