Atletico Madrid ended a 14-year wait by defeating neighbors Real Madrid in the final of the Spanish Copa del Rey knockout competition this Friday night.

Atletico had not beaten their cross city rivals in 14 years and 26 attempts, but despite falling a goal behind to a Cristiano Ronaldo (who would later be sent off) header, goals from Diego Costa and Joao Miranda gave Atletico a 2-1 win in a tense, tight and at times bad-tempered affair in which Atletico captain Gabi Fernandez and Real Madrid coach, Jose Mourinho, were also sent off.

While Atletico Madrid presented their strongest side, there were significant changes in the Real Madrid side: Luka Modric came into the starting 11 for Angel de Maria, while there was no place for Pepe despite the injury to central defender, Rafael Varene.

Raul Albiol partnered Sergio Ramos in the Madrid defense with Pepe in the stands: a move which highlighted the punishment Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has given the defender since Pepe had criticized his coach over the treatment of goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who was on the subs' bench, while Karim Benzema was preferred to Gonzalo Higuain in attack.

Real Madrid had home advantage, but with ticket sales divided 50-50 between fans, it was the Atletico fans who made the most noise in a packed Bernabeu Stadium, despite the fact their team had not defeated their neighbors since 1999.

Those 14 years without an Atletico win have been one of the main talking points in the build-up to the game and Ronaldo took a step towards extending that time when he opened the score after 13 minutes with a trademark header from a corner.

Ronaldo out-jumped Diego Godin to leave Thibaut Courtois no chance in the Atletico goal.

The goal left Atletico groggy and Diego Simeone' s side struggled to create anything in attack, even though their pressure was not allowing Real to move their ball either, with the result being a tight match interrupted by several fouls.

Atletico looked to get into the game more by heart than by their head and were rewarded for upping their work-rate after 36 minutes when Radamel Falcao fed Diego Costa to equalize with a low shot, which Diego Lopez got a touch on but was unable to keep out.

The goal saw Atletico take a step forward, but it was Real who came closest to scoring before the break when Mesut Ozil, slightly wasted on the right of midfield, hit a stunning volley against the post from outside of the penalty area.

The second half saw Real again come out strongly, but once again space was at a premium in what was a typical derby clash with the extra importance of bring a cup final. As a result set pieces were again a good scoring option as Courtois was at full stretch to tip away a diagonal free kick from Ozil.

Only a miracle stopped Real retaking the lead after the hour as Ronaldo working his way into the box to set up Benzema, whose shot hit the post only for the ball to drop to Ozil, who looked destined to score only for his shot to cannon into an Atletico defender.

Eight minutes later Ronaldo hit a free kick against the base of the post to rattle the Atletico woodwork for the third time in the match.

As time began to run down and the game increasingly tense, Mourinho was sent off for his exaggerated protests following a foul by Benzema.

The tension kept on growing, especially as Atletico won three consecutive corners in injury time, but Koke was unable to deliver a telling cross and the game went into 30 minutes extra time.

Real made a triple change before extra time kicked off with Gonzalo Higuain, Angel De Maria and Alvaro Arbeloa replacing Benzema, Modric and Coentrao, while Atletico continued without making changes, although they should have taken the lead when Costa shot at Lopez when clean through on goal.

It was a temporary let off for Real as Joan Miranda put Atletico ahead 8 minutes into extra time with a flicked header from a corner, getting to the ball ahead of Lopez to send the Atletico fans wild.

Could it really be that after 14 long years of suffering Atletico would finally beat their neighbors in the most important clash of all? Courtois denied Higuain in the 105th minute with a reflex stop and pulled off an ever better save with 12 minutes left after De Maria looked to have set up Ozil. The keeper on loan from Chelsea somehow got across his goal to get a hand to the ball and tip it over.

Tensions boiled over with seven minutes later when Ronaldo was sent off for catching Atletico' s Gabi in the face with the tip of his boot. That caused both ugly scenes between both dugouts with Simeone, Costa, Pepe and others involved, while in the Atletico goal, Courtois was hit by an object thrown from the Real supporters.

The stoppage led to five minutes of injury time with Real throwing everything forward, including Diego Lopez in the last foul of the game, but Atletico cleared to end their long long wait in the best possible style.

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