Mourinho happy with Real display in 0-0 draw

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho had no complaints about his side’s performance in their Copa del Rey tie against Real Murcia despite being held to a goalless draw by the third-tier side.

All eyes were on the Spanish superpowers – who have not won the Copa del Rey since 1993 – heading into the match to see if they might become the victim of another humiliating giant-killing act for the third year running at this stage.

Last season Madrid were dumped out by local side Alcorcon after losing the first leg 4-0, while the previous campaign they were knocked out by another Segunda Division B side in the form of Real Union, who won the first leg 3-2.

Madrid managed to avoid a first-leg deficit this time, however, and although they could not make a breakthrough at the Nueva Condomina, Mourinho was far from upset.

“I’m happy with the team. We played a serious game and wanted to win. My criticisms are for those who don’t work as hard as they can, and this wasn’t the case,” said the Portuguese, who sent out a strong side with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Iker Casillas and Karim Benzema all starting.

“There are no criticisms of my team, I’m happy with them despite the result, which we don’t like because we always want to win.

“We worked hard and had chances to score. We had some limitations due to the absence of more creative players like (Xabi) Alonso and (Mesut) Ozil.

“Murcia worked well. We didn’t win because their goalkeeper had a fantastic night.”

The former Inter coach is also supremely confident about his side’s chances of progressing through to the last 16, adding: “If you look at the tie from a two-leg perspective, then it’s a good result.

“We are going to win the match at home and we are going to get through. I’m convinced we will get through.”

Laser incident

Meanwhile, Ronaldo was targeted by a laser during Tuesday’s cup match, in the latest in a string of similar incidents, Spanish media reported yesterday.

The green laser was pointed at the 25-year-old’s face in the 72nd minute of the match just as he was lining up to take a free-kick, sports daily Marca reported.

The newspaper published pictures of the Portuguese international taken during the match that showed a green glow from the laser on his forehead as well as on his cheek.

The guilty fan was able to avoid being caught by stadium officials, the newspaper said.