Valencia 0-5 FC Barcelona: To the semis in style

FC Barcelona have powered their way into the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, where they will meet one of Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid or Real Sociedad after brushing aside Valencia in a similar battering to the they dished out to the same club less than two weeks earlier in La Liga.

Ferran Torres got a hat-trick, Fermin Lopez and Lamine Yamal got the others, and the goals came so early that most of Thursday’s game ended up being a mere formality.

Indeed, although five goals were impressive enough, one gets the feeling that had Barça kept their feet as firmly on the pedal as they had in the first half hour, we could easily have ended up with an even higher score than we did. For even though Valencia did score twice from offside positions, it really was that one-sided.

Flying start again

Having made nine changes to the team that won at the weekend, home coach Carlos Corberán was clearly more concerned about his club’s league situation than any hope of continuing the cup run. All the same, there was an optimistic mood at Mestalla before the game that Los Che could make reparations for the crushing 7-1 defeat at the Estadi Olimpic.

It wasn’t going to happen for them. Hansi Flick sent out more or less as strong a side as he could and his men were soon putting Valencia through the same kind of nightmare they had caused them at Montjuic. Incredibly, in that game Barça scored four goals in the first half hour. Even more incredibly, in this game they did it again!

Torres hat-trick

Valencia’s bright start lasted all of three minutes. Barça’s first attack, Barça’s first goal! Lovely ball from Alejandro Balde, and there was Ferran Torres on the end of it, following a sweet finish with a gesture of respect for his boyhood club.

Valencia tried to respond but couldn’t, and on their next serious offensive, Barça doubled their lead. Lamine Yamal hit the post, and Ferran was bang on the rebound and although the goal was originally scrubbed for offside, VAR took a second look and could find nothing wrong.

Just six minutes later, Fermin Lopez delivered further punishment with a deft flick over the keeper and a confident finish. And with Barça making mincemeat of the home defence, it wasn’t long after that when Ferran Torres was rounding off the fastest Barça hat-trick since Samuel Eto’o against Almería in 2008.

Cruising home

Many of the home supporters were already leaving the stadium. They’d seen enough. It wasn’t even Barça’s best football of the season. They were so utterly superior that they didn’t even need their A game.

Lamine, for example, was a lot quieter than we are used to, but he too got his name on the scoresheet just before the hour mark, although home keeper Stole Dimitrievski will be fuming for failing to deal with a very stoppable shot.

With Dani Olmo and Íñigo Martínez both making welcome returns from injury in the second half, the remainder of the game was really just about going through the motions. Barça have a big trip to Sevilla to think about on Sunday, and Valencia have a crunch fixture against relegation rivals Leganés. Barça didn’t need more goals, and by this stage, they were of scant use to Valencia either.

On march Barça into the semi-finals, and they’ll find out who they’re playing next Wednesday at 1pm CET. The games themselves, over two legs this time, will be on or around February 25 and then April 2.