Barca clinch Copa final spot

Posted Thursday, March 05, 2015 by Marca.com

Barcelona are through to the Copa del Rey final following their 3-1 victory over Villarreal in the second leg semifinal on Wednesday night at El Madrigal.

Neymar scored in both halves and Luis Suarez had a second half goal to earn Barcelona 6-2 victory on aggregate over the two legs. The Catalonians have now advanced to the Copa final for the fifth time in the last seven years and will await the winner of the other semifinal between Espanyol and Athletic Bilbao.

However, it was not all good for Barcelona as midfield lynchpin Sergio Busquets was stretchered off in the first half with what initially appeared to be a serious ankle injury. It was later learned that Busquets sustained a high-ankle strain, which assuredly came as good news to manager Luis Enrique.

The Asturian boss made several adjustments from the squad that won on at Granada over the weekend, with No.2 goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen manning the posts in place of Claudio Bravo and only Jordi Alba being a holdover from Saturday's win in Andalusia. Otherwise, it was a back four of the lightly-used Martin Montoya, and the return at center back for regular starters Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano.

Ivan Rakitic was rested in midfield, as Rafinha came in for the Croatian international, along with normal starters Busquets and Andres Iniesta, while there were no switches up front as Lionel Messi, Suarez and Neymar formed the attack.

Barcelona used the entire pitch to open the scoring in just the third minute and it started with a ball over the top and down the left to Suarez from Mascherano. From there the Uruguyan sent a ball cross-field over to Messi, and La Pulga took over by curling in an inch-perfect pass for Neymar to poke past Sergio Asenjo to give Barcelona a 1-0 lead and 4-1 lead on aggregate.

Villarreal looked to answer the Barcelona goal and had a slew of chances, with Denis Cheryshev, Luciano Vietto and Uche all coming close, but unable to breach Ter Stegen's goal.

The Yellow Submarine were solid and looked comfortable in possession though, and got the equalizer six minutes before the break when a ball was played to Jaume Costa down the left wing and the cross in found Mexican Jonathan dos Santos all alone at the back post, and the former Barcelona man thumped his shot past Ter Stegen to even the match 1-1 and make it 4-2 on aggregate. The goal was a double-whammy for Barcelona since Busquets sustained an ankle injury on the build-up to the goal, with the lanky midfielder colliding with Tomás Pina and being forced to leave the match.

The pressure kept coming from Villarreal in the second half and Vietto had a golden opportunity to make it a 2-1 match in the 47th minute, but his header off a Cheryshev cross sailed high over the crossbar.

The task for the home team was made a lot tougher in the 65th minute when Pina was given his walking papers for a lunging tackle from behind on Neymar, which earned the midfielder a straight red card and left Villarreal with ten men. With the man advantage, Barcelona wrestled back control of the match and started pelting the Villarreal goal, including a near-miss from Suarez in the 69th minute off an Iniesta pass and a Neymar effort blocked in the 72nd minute when perhaps a ball across to Suarez was the better option.

Yet just a minute later Suarez would seal the tie when Mascherano played another impeccable ball over the top, and this time the former Liverpool man ran onto it and cut to his left before slotting a shot in past Asenjo to put Barcelona up 2-1 in the match and 5-2 in the tie.

The night was capped off by a Neymar goal in the 88th minute that was served up by Xavi, as the legendary midfielder picked out Neymar and gave the Brazilian an easy header into net to give Barcelona a 3-1 lead in the match and a 6-2 advantage on aggregate.

Barcelona will turn their attention back to league action this Sunday when they welcome in Rayo Vallecano.