Zaragoza keen to play underdog card against Real

Despite knocking out Atletico Madrid and Barcelona in previous rounds, Real Zaragoza are keen to play the underdog card ahead of their King's Cup semi-final, first leg against Real Madrid on Wednesday.

"On paper we are inferior to Real and to say anything else would be ridiculous," Zaragoza coach Victor Munoz told sports daily Marca after putting Barca out of the Cup last week.

"Madrid have a much stronger squad than us and they are favourites to make the final, especially because they have home advantage in the second leg."

The former Barcelona player also believes that Real have an added incentive to beat his side after losing to them in extra-time in the final two years ago.

"They are going to be specially motivated because of what happened before," he said.

"They are very keen to win the Cup and it has become one of their targets this season. The league is going to be difficult for them, the Champions League is more unpredictable, but the Cup is within their reach."

Despite underplaying his side's chances of another upset, Munoz's side have been in impressive form of late and they gave a devastating exhibition of their attacking power in the first leg of their quarter-final against Barca.

In a performance that was reminiscent of Chelsea's victory over the Catalans in last season's Champions League, they exposed the Barca defence by scoring three goals in the space of five minutes on their way to a 4-2 victory at La Romareda.

On Sunday, they produced another brilliant display in attack, storming their way into a 4-0 lead after just 23 minutes against Real Betis, although they proceeded to relax too soon and were pegged back to 4-3 in the second half.

Between them, their two main strikers Diego Milito and former Borussia Dortmund player Ewerthon have scored 19 goals this season, and third choice forward Sergio Garcia also got on the score sheet against Betis.

Real are in buoyant mood after chalking up a seventh successive win in all competitions, beating Espanyol 4-0 on Saturday, and are anxious to end their three-season trophy drought by winning the Cup.

New coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro, who has been given much of the credit for the team's revival, will be able to count on Ronaldo up front after the Brazilian scored on his return from a month out and may also give Italy striker Antonio Cassano another run out on Wednesday.

Espanyol host Deportivo Coruna in the other semi-final on Thursday, but they will need to turn in a vastly improved performance if they are to hold the Galicians who put Valencia out in the last round.

"I hope that we reflect on this defeat and correct the mistakes we made," Espanyol coach Miguel Angel Lotina said after Saturday's defeat. "If we want to get close to the big teams we have to work harder and show more determination."