Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 4-0 at Camp Nou to advance to the Copa Del Rey final, with Karim Benzema scoring his second straight hat-trick. Los Blancos scored three goals in the second half against a defence that looked totally clueless. While it appeared that Barcelona would score first, it was Real Madrid who scored on a brilliant counter-attack near the end of the first half. Vinicius Jr. scored the Los Blancos’ goal in the 46th minute.
Karim Benzema took over in the second half, scoring the first hat-trick for a Real player at the Camp Nou since 1963 to seal his club’s berth in the final on May 6.
Ronald Araujo, defender for Barcelona, explained his late disagreement with Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior. Which resulted in the Uruguayan receiving a yellow card in the final minutes of Barça’s 4-0 El Clásico loss in the Copa del Rey semi-final.
Barcelona got off to a fast start, creating chances and pressing high up the field. However, they did not take advantage of their early chances.
However, after a solid first half, Barcelona’s game transformed into a nightmare. Real Madrid dominated the second half, capitalising on Barcelona’s sloppy play in midfield.
Luka Modric ran 30-plus yards untouched with the ball to find Karim Benzema at the edge of the box, who was unmarked, and fired into the lower corner to give Madrid the aggregate advantage. Five minutes later, Benzema doubled Madrid’s advantage with a penalty.
Madrid scored a fourth goal after taking advantage of a wide-open defence. The defeat is a huge setback for Barcelona, who had high expectations of completing a league-cup double this season. Real Madrid, on the other side, will compete in the Final against Osasuna.
“A tough pill to swallow” says Xavi Hernández
Barcelona performed well in the first half but conceded a crucial goal before halfway, leading to an embarrassing defeat for Xavi Hernández’s team. After the contest, the coach addressed the media and discussed his team’s performance and what lies ahead.
“Tonight is a tough pill to swallow and it hurts all of us as Culers. Now we need to react and move won, we have a league to win. We competed a lot better than the result says, it’s exaggerated.
“In the first half we did very well, but in a counter-attack Madrid took advantage and scored the first. But it was really the 2-0 that killed us. It’s a shame but we have to be self-critical, it was a bad second half.
“I’m not making excuses. I believe we played very well in both legs. I’d already said Madrid were the favorites.”
