This season’s Copa del Rey final is almost certainly going to be a repeat of the European Super Cup after Sevilla hammered Celta 4-0 on Thursday evening! The Andalusians started strongly, Kolo and N’Zonzi going close early on, and Rubén Blanco having to save a Gameiro penalty after Sergi Gómez fouled the striker in the area. Gómez headed against the post at the other end soon afterwards, and Pablo Hernández fired a shot just wide of the mark, but with the first half coming to a close Rami steered a header wide of the keeper from a Banega corner to give the locals the lead. Gameiro added two more in a three minute period around the hour mark, both on quick counter-attacks from Krohn-Dehli and Banega through balls. And with the visitors throwing everything forward, Jonny failed to cut out a long pass from Vitolo, allowing Krohn-Dehli to run through and make it four against his old side. (04.02.16)
Barcelona sentenced their semi-final cup tie in the first leg on Wednesday night, a humiliating 7-0 victory over Valencia making the return match a pure formality. Luis Suárez scored twice in the first twelve minutes, the first after Neymar put him through, and the second after Aleix Vidal laid back a long ball from Busquets. Messi added a third on the half hour mark, and then hit the bar before winning a penalty off Mustafi, who was shown a straight red card for the tackle. Neymar could only hit the post from the spot kick, but early on in the second half Messi made it four after Luis Suárez laid back Turan’s pass with his heel. Gary Neville turned to new signing Cheryshev, who came on to jeers from the local fans following his part in Real Madrid’s cup fiasco, and a few minutes later he set up Rodrigo to find the net, only for the strike to be ruled out for offside. With a quarter of an hour to go though Messi won the ball off a demoralized defence to complete his hatr-trick, and Suárez netted another two in the last ten minutes to take his personal tally for the match to four. The defeat puts more pressure on Neville, who has already been strongly criticised following a string of disappointing results in the league. (03.02.16)