Robinho, who was celebrating his 22nd birthday, scored for Los Meringues two minutes from the break to end Betis’ title defense campaign.

The first crack on goal came as early as the first minute when Robinho fired a fierce shot that was cleared by Betis keeper Antonio Doblas.

Ten minutes later, Martin Dani saved a header from Sergio Ramos of the line followed by Doblas deflecting a near shot from Antonio Cassano, who was making his starting lineup debut with Madrid.

Efforts from Dani and Sanchez Joaquin to put Betis ahead were denied when the former was denied by the woodwork while Real keeper Iker Casillas did well to parry the latter’s close-range effort.

Real grabbed the lead when Zinedine Zidane fed David Beckham who slipped it to Robinho on the left-side only for the Brazilian star to dance his way past a defender and flick the ball past Doblas into the far corner of the net.

Madrid were joined by Espanyol in the last-four, after they clinched a comfortable 2-0 victory over Cadiz thanks to two goals from midfielder Mateu Jofre.

Meanwhile, the second leg tie between Valencia and Deportivo La Coruna was abandoned at 1-1 on aggregate when an object coming from the crowd hit a linesman in the head.

The match will be resumed behind closed doors starting its 44th minute on a date to be agreed upon by both teams.