FC Barcelona is through to the Copa Del Rey final with a very comfortable scoreline despite not being comfortable for the majority of the match. It was clear that Real Madrid had the majority of chances, but the difference in efficiency was also equally obvious. Barcelona made Madrid pay each time they had a shot, while Los Blancos were wasteful. In the end, despite Barcelona being tremendously flattered by the score-line, we have to bear in mind that Real Madrid needed 4 goals to qualify and were quite far from doing so.
The home side was on top in a first half in which they kept Lionel Messi quiet and created a number of chances, but Vinicius Junior squandered two excellent opportunities. Vinicius caused Barca plenty of problems all night with his pace and trickery, but is still erratic in his shooting and after he missed another opening early in the second half, Ernesto Valverde’s side took the lead.
Ousmane Dembele found space on the left and played a pass back for the advancing Suarez, who beat Sergio Ramos to the ball and poked past Keylor Navas into the Costa Rican’s right-hand corner. Madrid kept going and, buoyed by their fans, they continued to look dangerous down the left through Vinicius and Sergio Reguilon. Barca then went two up in the 68th minute as Dembele took advantage of a space left by Reguilon and sent in an inviting ball to the far post which Raphael Varane could only turn into his own net from close range under pressure from Suarez. And a few minutes later, Casemiro brought down the Uruguayan in the box as Real Madrid conceded a penalty. Suarez stepped up and scored with a Panenka shot past Navas.
Many Madrid fan cried out after that as the game lost its intensity amid a number of substitutions and Barca claimed a 3-0 win (4-1 victory aggregate) which sees the Catalans advance to the Copa Del Rey final for a sixth season in a row.
