This was the heaviest defeat inflicted on the Spanish giants since they fell 6-0 to Valencia also in a Cup semifinal first leg match in 1999.

Most of the damage inflicted on David Beckham, Ronaldo and company was done by Zaragoza's Argentinian striker Diego Milito, who knocked in four of the goals with Brazilian Ewerthon's double completing the rout.

Milito played havoc with Real's limp defence, putting Zaragoza 3-0 up after just 34 minutes to conjure up memories of his first half hattrick against Barcelona in the quarterfinals.

Brazilian striker Julio Baptista pulled one back for Real before the break but any hopes of a recovery were quickly dashed when Milito and then Edwerson wrapped up proceedings in the second half.