Alhassane Keita's goal gave struggling Real Mallorca a 1-0 first-leg advantage over Real Betis in their King's Cup quarterfinal on Thursday. The Guinean forward evaded two defenders chasing a long ball over the top to score midway through the second half. Financially-troubled Mallorca's cup run is a welcome distraction from the Primera Liga, where it is second bottom without a win since late October. Earlier, Athletic Bilbao's Fernando Llorente missed a first-half penalty as his side was held to a 0-0 home draw by Sporting Gijon in the first leg. The lanky striker had the perfect chance to break the deadlock after going down to win a dubious spot kick but he blazed his effort high and wide. Bilbao was put under constant pressure by the visitors in an open game but the 23-time Cup winner held firm to extend its unbeaten run to 10 games in all competitions. On Wednesday, holder Valencia beat 2007 winner Sevilla 3-2 at the Mestalla and Espanyol held city rivals Barcelona 0-0 at home. The second legs are next week. Espanyol or Barca will play Mallorca or Betis for a place in May's final and Valencia or Sevilla will take on Bilbao or Sporting. Lazio in Italian Cup semis In Rome, Stefano Mauri set up one goal and scored another to help Lazio reach the semifinals of the Italian Cup with a 3-1 comeback win over Torino on Thursday. The midfielder thrashed in a loose ball with his left foot from outside the box six minutes after threading a pass into the area for substitute Goran Pandev to score the home team's equalizer at the start of the second half. Captain Tommaso Rocchi then drove the ball into the bottom corner to wrap up the victory in stoppage time. Defender Cesare Natali had opened the scoring for Torino, which is third from bottom in Serie A, just before the half hour when Lazio keeper Fernando Muslera made a mess of intercepting an Alessandro Rosina cross from the right. Lazio next faces the winner of the Feb. 4 quarterfinal between Juventus and Napoli in Turin. Serie A champion Inter Milan and Sampdoria meet in the other semi after they knocked out holder AS Roma and Udinese respectively on Wednesday. Violence down and fans up Violence at Italian football grounds is reducing while the number of fans coming to watch live matches is increasing, a report released on Thursday claimed. The Italian football Observatory, a body charged with disciplinary matters in the game, claimed that the first half of the 2008-09 Serie A season attracted nearly 11 percent more fans than the same stage the year before. The average Serie A gate has increased from 22,430 to 24,825 from the first half of 2007-08. But it is in terms of violence that the biggest difference has been seen. The top flight has seen a 66 percent reduction of injuries among supporters, 41 percent amongst the forces of order and nearly 54 percent fewer arrests.
