BARCA REACH COPA DEL REY FINAL

Barcelona progressed to the Copa del Rey final with a 2-0 win over Valencia.

Last Updated: 08/02/12 at 22:53 Post Comment    Bet with SkyBet  Spanish Copa Del Rey. Click here to bet.

Cesc Fabregas celebrates his goal.

Cesc Fabregas celebrates his goal.

A goal in each half from Cesc Fabregas and Xavi ensured Barcelona progressed to the Copa del Rey final with a 2-0 victory on the night over 10-man Valencia.

There was all to play for with the tie finely balanced at 1-1 heading into Wednesday night's second leg at the Nou Camp, and the hosts needed only 16 minutes to take the lead through a neat finish from Fabregas.

Sofiane Feghouli was sent off for the visitors in the 76th minute for a second bookable offence and soon after Xavi eased any Barca nerves by grabbing his side's second goal.

Barca will face Athletic Bilbao in the final after the Basque club completed an 8-3 aggregate win over Mirandes last night.

Valencia had a couple of early sights of goal on Wednesday evening but were unable to work Jose Pinto in the Barca goal.

Victor Ruiz failed to connect in the six-yard box in the third minute and then Feghouli lashed in a left-footed shot which whistled narrowly past the top-left corner.

The hosts went ahead on the quarter-hour mark, Fabregas dinking over Diego Alves with the outside of his right boot following a fine pass from Lionel Messi.

Barca were beginning to gain a foothold as the game wore on, although Los Che remained a threat on the counter-attack.

Alves prevented Barca from going two up in the 18th minute, producing a brilliant save to keep out Messi after the Argentina forward had burst through on goal.

Alexis Sanchez had another blast deflected wide in the 27th minute and Fabregas saw another drive stopped by Alves three minutes later as Pep Guardiola's side continued to push forward.

A last-gasp tackle from Gerard Pique denied Jonas a shooting opportunity nine minutes before the break when the Valencia forward looked to have found space.

Valencia were almost back on level terms in the opening moments of the second half, but Pinto got out well to block with his legs from Jordi Alba's angled shot.

The ever-lively Messi went within a whisker of extending his side's lead at the other end in the 54th minute after latching onto Isaac Cuenca's slick pass, the Ballon d'Or winner's effort deflected over the bar by Ruiz.

The visitors had a sniff of an equaliser soon after when, with Pinto in no-man's land, Aritz Aduriz sent over a cross but Javier Mascherano cleared the danger.

The action soon returned to the other end, where Messi capitalised on sloppy defending to go close again but his only reward was a corner.

Pinto had to be alert in the 73rd minute to tip a fierce attempt from Jonas over the bar for a corner.

Valencia's cause was not helped by the dismissal of Feghouli 14 minutes from time, the midfielder shown a second yellow card for a stray arm in the face of Carles Puyol.

Barca did not take long to capitalise on their numerical advantage.

Messi's superb pass found Sanchez and he laid the ball off for Fabregas to tee up Xavi, who lashed a stunning shot into the roof of the net to put the result beyond doubt.

Messi could have added further gloss to the scoreline when he unleashed a brilliant free-kick in the 85th minute. Alves produced a magnificent right-handed save, but Barca were home and dry.

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here has only been 3 players who made me hold my breath in dread when they picked the ball up anywhere near our penalty area...in their prime Scholes and Giggs... and always Drogba. Awesome player who on his day was the best striker in the world in my opinion.

gunner14
Farewell Big, Brutal, Big-Balled B**tard

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remember him scoring a 25-yarder, either the season just gone or the one before, against Bolton at the Reebok. I've never seen a ball hit that hard before in my entire life. You could almost feel the shockwave from his foot contacting it 40 yards away in the stands. Didier Droga. You might not have loved him, but you just had to be in awe of him.

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den Hazard, def. - 1) that girl in a club who makes eyes at you all night, who allows you to buy her a drink and walk her home arm in arm, who then gives you a suggestive kiss on her doorstep before declaring how tired she is and how she has to be up early the next day. 2) A cock tease.

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