Karim Benzema shone at the Camp Nou with a hat-trick. (AFP)
Real Madrid qualified for the final of the Copa del Rey after beating Barcelona 4-0 on Wednesday with a hat trick from Benzema, in the second leg of the semifinals played at the Camp Nou.
the goals of Vinicius Junior (45′) and Karim Benzema in triplicate (50, 58 and 80 minutes) they served to reverse the defeat of the first leg in Madrid, making it 4-1 on aggregate for the tie for the meringues.
The white giant will face off in the cup final on May 6 at Osasuna at the La Cartuja stadium in Seville, after the victory of those from Pamplona on Tuesday by a 2-1 aggregate against Athletic Bilbao.
Real Madrid returns to a Copa del Rey final for the first time since winning this tournament in 2014 against Barça (2-1 in the final) after a match in which the meringues took off in the second half.
Karim Benzema appeared to score the second of the @real Madrid!
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In a Camp Nou that chanted the name of Lionel Messi After days of new comments about a possible return of Rosario to Barcelona, the Barça club sought to control the ball against a more comfortable opponent on the counterattack.
‘Vini’ unlocks the game
Barça was about to take the lead early when Sergi Roberto unleashed a shot that was cut by David Alaba (10′), which was followed by a dangerous header from Raphinha into the heart of the white area that was saved by Thibaut Courtois (14′).
The Barça team controlled the first half in a very rough match, with many individual duels and a lot of work for the referee in the face of the continuous scuffles between the players, but they lacked fine-tuning in the face of the goal defended by Courtois.
Double by Frenchman Karim Benzema who scored the third goal of the @real Madrid!
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With Araujo pending the arrival of Vinícius, Barça progressed more on the left wing where the young Alejandro Balde appeared to put balls into the area for Lewandowski, a reference in attack, but who could not find the way to score.
The white team sought to press the rival team’s exit to try to quickly reach the domain of Marc-André Ter Stegen.
When the match seemed to go to half-time with the score 0-0, Courtois took a shot from Lewandowski, starting a counterattack that Vinícius culminated with a shot that Jules Koundé tried to save on the line, but the ball went inside the goal also helped by the foot of Benzema (45).
blaugrana confusion
Right after the break, Real Madrid soon increased the score with a drive from Luka Modric, who passed Benzema and the Frenchman beat Ter Stegen with a shot close to the post (50′).
The goal put Real Madrid ahead in the tie, while at Barça, the goal triggered nerves with several inaccuracies.
Great assistance from Vinícius Junior to define Karim Benzema and score his hat trick and the fourth of the @real Madrid!
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– Tigo Sports (@TigoSportsPY) April 5, 2023
Courtois took a cross shot from Balde (52 ‘), while Araujo shot too cross (56) in the Barca reaction attempt, cut off by the third Merengue goal.
Franck Kessié brought down ‘Vini Jr.’ in the area causing a penalty, which Benzema scored to make it 3-0 (58′) for Real Madrid, dominating in the second half.
The goal fell like a blow for Barcelona, in which Xavi Hernández moved the bench adding more gunpowder to try to reach the two goals that would take the game to extra time, but the white team was already very comfortable on the field.
As the minutes passed, the game slowed down and in a new counterattack, Vinícius combined with Benzema so that the Frenchman crossed the ball before the departure of Ter Stegen making the final 4-0 (80 ‘), which put Real Madrid in the cup final.
