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Good news. Real Madrid is on the Copa del Rey Semifinals after a brilliant defensive display in the second half of the leg played at Mestalla. Raúl Albiol and Raphael Varane complemented each other really well and allowed their team to walk away with a cheap ticket to the next round.
Unfortunately, Fabio Coentrao and Ángel Di María both saw red cards in Mestalla. The Portuguese defender was booked for his second time after he stopped a cross with his elbow and Di María decided toplay dumb and kick Joao Pereira. While it's true that Pereira should've been out by that time already (he did finish the game), Di María's move wasn't smart at all.
Valencia never created a single chance other than corner and free kicks. Benzema closed the first half with a good goal off a great assist by Xabi Alonso. Real Madrid's defensive midfielder was brilliant as well throughout the whole game by helping the defensive line when needed.
Coentrao's second yellow came soon in the second half, and Valencia scored its only goal immediately thanks to a mistake by Antonio Adán. If Casillas is going to miss more than a couple of games, Adán needs to step up and do it soon. This kind of goal could be very expensive against Manchester United or Barcelona (if Pellegrini's team finally loses this Thursday).
After that, Real Madrid decided to contain Valencia's attacks, and the team did it perfectly. Khedira and Alonso helped quite a bit, but Varane and Albiol's performances should be noted by every Real Madrid fan. Di María's dumb play came shortly before the end of the game, so there was no risk for his team involved, but it's true that Mourinho will not be able to count on him for the Semifinals, so Di María did indeed something his teammates shouldn't be thankful of.