Double delight!
Suarez’s brace downs Real to send Barca into Cup final
MADRID: A clinical Barcelona won 3-0 at Real Madrid in an intense second leg of their Spanish King’s Cup semi-final as a Luis Suarez double helped them secure a 4-1 aggregate victory and a spot in the final for the sixth straight season.
A dominant yet wasteful Real ravaged their rivals in the first half while spurning a string of clear chances at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Yet Barca went ahead against the run of play in the 50th minute as Ousmane Dembele led a counter-attack and Suarez slotted his pass into the net.
Spearheaded by the pace and confidence of Brazilian teenager Vinicius Jr, Real continued to fly forward but failed to find the target.
Barca effectively killed off the tie when Raphael Varane bundled the ball into his own net as he tried to prevent Suarez reaching another cross from Dembele.
Suarez then earned a penalty and further humiliated Real by converting with an audacious ‘Panenka’, deceiving goalkeeper Keylor Navas by chipping the ball into the net.
Barca, who lost first leg games to Levante and Sevilla in the Cup and drew 1-1 with Real in the first-leg of the semi-final, booked their place in the final on May 25.
Bidding to win the trophy for a record fifth year in a row, the Catalans will face either Real Betis or Valencia, who drew 2-2 in the first-leg of their semi-final.
“This is another demonstration of how good this team is. People keep saying that we don’t care about the Cup, but we have shown that we always want to win every single trophy,” Suarez told reporters.
Real coach Santiago Solari stressed his side’s dominance in the game but cursed their inability to take their numerous chances.
“In football you have to be efficient and take the chances you get.
“We fell with honour, we could do no more. We were not clinical but they were, and we go home feeling hurt because we really wanted to reach the final.”
Worst of all for Real , La Liga leaders Barca will be back at the Bernabeu once again tomorrow for a league fixture which, should they win again, would see them move 12 points clear of their arch-rivals. — Reuters