Barcelona into Copa del Rey semi-finals after five-star performance against Valencia – Football España

Barcelona have become the fourth and final team to reach the Copa del Rey semi-finals, and they got there in fine style with a crushing victory over Valencia in their quarter-final tie.

Hansi Flick opted to bring in Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong, Fermin Lopez and Ferran Torres to the side that defeated Alaves last weekend, and it was the latter that broke the deadlock against his former club inside the opening three minutes. Alejandro Balde’s wonderfully-weighted through ball made its way to Ferran, who made no mistake from close range.

14 minutes later, Ferran got his and Barcelona’s second, as the Catalans looked to flex their muscles early on at the Mestalla. Raphinha was slipped in by Pedri before laying off to Lamine Yamal, whose shot was saved by Valencia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski. The rebound fell to Ferran, who made no mistake – the ball was originally ruled out for offside, but after a VAR check, it was given.

Fermin Lopez would get in on the act soon after to make it 3-0. Pedri played a wonderfully through ball to his fellow midfielder, and he found an empty net after taking the ball around the onrushing Dimitrievski. And soon after that strike, Ferran fired home his third of the evening on the half hour to complete a sensational hat-trick.

On the hour mark, it went 5-0 as Lamine Yamal got himself in on the act. Raphinha laid the ball off to the 17-year-old on the right side of the box, and his tame shot somehow trickled past Dimitrievski, whose miserable evening was compound at that moment.

Valencia managed to survive the remaining 30 minutes with conceding, but that is still 12-1 to Barcelona in an aggregate scoreline in the two teams’ meetings over the last 11 days. Barcelona can now look forward to the Copa del Rey semi-finals, where they will be matched against one of Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid or Real Sociedad.