Barca give Enrique victorious send-off

Catalans win 3rd King’s Cup in a row

Barcelona team players pose with the trophy after the Copa del Rey final soccer match between Barcelona and Alaves at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid, Spain on May 27. Barcelona won the match 3-1. (AP)

MADRID, May 28, (RTRS): Lionel Messi and Neymar showed their pedigree as Barcelona outclassed a determined Alaves side 3-1 to win the King’s Cup for a third successive year, allowing coach Luis Enrique to leave the club on a high.

Messi curled in the opener in the 30th minute from outside the area following clever link up play with Neymar after Alaves, who were playing in their first domestic final, had struck the inside of the post.

The Basque side drew level three minutes later when Theo Hernandez fizzed a spectacular free kick into the top corner although Neymar restored Barca’s lead a minute before halftime, bundling in Andre Gomes’s pass from close range after starting the move with a dazzling run down the left.

Paco Alcacer further stretched the Catalans’ lead two minutes later killing off Alaves’ hopes of a first trophy in their 96-year history and delivering Barca’s 29th King’s Cup, the ninth trophy of Luis Enrique’s three-year tenure.

“Nine trophies in a club like Barca, who have had a glorious decade, means that the players have been at their very best and I was able to enjoy it. These trophies were down to the players and their ambition,” Luis Enrique told reporters.

“It’s great to finish the season with a trophy and not go home empty handed. We’ve won another trophy, but the team gave their best in every game.

“I feel satisfied about a job well done and I can’t wait to rest, to be with my family and enjoy some well

Deportivo Alaves’ defender Kiko Femenia (left), vies with Barcelona’s defender Jordi Alba during the Spanish Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) final football match FC Barcelona vs Deportivo Alaves at the Vicente Calderon

Stadium in Madrid on May 27. (AFP)

deserved holiday.”

Luis Enrique said he had no plans for the immediate future and is expected to take a sabbatical year before plotting his next move.

Former Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde is set to be named as his successor on Monday, according to reports in the Spanish media.

Barca were searching for one piece of silverware to end a disappointing campaign after surrendering the Liga title to Real Madrid and exiting the Champions League in the quarter-finals to Juventus and were without prolific striker Luis Suarez and defender Sergi Roberto through suspension.

They suffered an early setback when Javier Mascherano was carried off on a stretcher following a head-on collision with Alaves midfielder Marcos Llorente, who had to sport a bandage on his head for the rest of the game.

Alaves brought an extra 2,000 fans to the Vicente Calderon than their illustrious opponents and were dreaming of a repeat of their shock league win at the Nou Camp earlier in the season, although this time Barca were fielding a far stronger starting line-up.

Alaves nearly took a surprise lead when Gerard Pique gave the ball away to Ibai Gomez, who fired under Jasper Cillessen and off the inside of the near post, watching the ball trickle just beyond the far post.

Messi’s brilliant strike, his fifth goal in seven King’s Cup finals, did not crush Alaves and they quickly drew level with the thunderbolt free kick from Theo, a loan signing from Atletico Madrid who is expected to join champions Real Madrid in the summer.

But Messi and Neymar had not finished yet. The Argentine fed substitute Gomes who teed up Nemyar and barely two minutes later Messi went on another rampaging run through the middle to play in Alcacer and ensure there was no way back for Alaves.

He is reportedly weighing up bumper offers from Paris St-Germain, AC Milan and China’s China’s Tianjin Quanjian with PSG his most likely destination.

After Dortmund took the lead at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium through Ousmane Dembele’s early goal, Frankfurt’s forward Ante Rebic’s equalised to make it 1-1 at the break before Aubameyang turned the game.

Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel praised his team, who have bounced back from the April 11 bomb attack on their team bus to win silverware this season having finished third in the Bundesliga.

“I am spent, I must admit, after watching that,” said Tuchel.

“We started really well, then stopped playing and were lucky not to fall behind, but we dug deep and now everything is perfect.”

Dortmund romped to a 3-1 home Bundesliga win over Frankfurt in mid-April, but this was a much bolder performance from Niko Kovic’s Eintracht, who had won only one of their previous ten games coming into the Berlin final.

Dortmund took the lead with just eight minutes gone when Dembele was released down the right flank and the fleet-footed 20-year-old cut inside Frankfurt defender Jesus Vallejo and curled his shot into the net.

But Eintracht started to pressurise the Dortmund defence.

Frankfurt’s US international Timothy Chandler whipped in a cross

and Croatia international Rebic was just inches from connecting with the goal at his mercy.

He made no mistake on 29 minutes when Serbia midfielder Mijat Gacinovic’s superb pass split the Dortmund defence and released Rebic,

Dortmund players celebrate with the trophy after winning the German Cup (DFB Pokal) final football match Eintracht Frankfurt vs BVB Borussia Dortmund at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on May 27. (AFP)

who slotted his shot past Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki.

Frankfurt should have taken the lead when Rebic traded passes with Haris Seferovic whose shot beat Burki, but hit the post on 39 minutes.

Neither Dortmund captain Marcel Schmelzer nor playmaker Marco Reus came out for the second half.

Schmelzer had carried a leg knock into the final, while Reus injured his right knee midway through the first half.

Tuchel responded by switching from a 3-3-2-2 formation to a 4-5-1 formation with Aubameyang, the Bundesliga’s top scorer this season with 31 goals, as the loan striker.

Japan midfielder fired at Frankfurt goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky just after the break.

But the scene was set for Aubameyang.

His flying bicycle kick was only cleared off the line by Frankfurt’s Mexico international Marco Fabian on 64 minutes.

And the Gabon hot-shot showed a cool head by slotting the winning penalty straight down the middle on 67 minutes after substitute Christian Pulisic was brought down by Frankfurt’s goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky.

Frankfurt boss Kovac responded by bringing on Frankfurt’s burly striker Alexander Meier, 34, the Bundesliga’s top-scorer in 2014/15, for the final 20 minutes to try to force an equaliser to no avail.