It took the home side just seven minutes to open the scoring, as Jese Rodriguez latched on to a lofted through-ball from Xabi Alonso and kept his composure to slot a calm finish inside the near post.

Real's Jese Rodriguez Ruiz celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal against Espanyol during their Copa del Rey quarter-final match on January 28, 2014 © AFP

Cristiano Ronaldo then stepped inside from the left flank and sent a powerful shot towards goal, but Kiko Casilla was equal to it, and the goalkeeper was out to thwart the Ballon d'Or winner again just five minutes later.

Casilla then reacted well to tip Angel di Maria's deflected strike wide as Madrid continued to pour forward in search of further goals.

On the stroke of half time, Pizzi flashed a volley over the bar in a rare chance for the visitors.

Casilla continued his heroics after the break as he dashed from his line to deflect Ronaldo's shot from eight yards over the bar.

Ronaldo uncharacteristically struggled to find his range, as he then dragged another shot wide of the far post with his left foot.

Sergio Ramos was the next Madrid player to miss the target when he smashed his shot high over the bar.

Any hopes of Espanyol staging a late comeback were dashed when Victor Sanchez was shown a second yellow card for a high challenge on Alonso.

Raul Rodriguez should have got one goal back for the visitors in the 88th minute, but he volleyed into the side-netting from close range.