Barcelona through to cup final after draw with Valencia

The second leg of the first of the Copa del Rey semi-finals kicked off with an FC Barcelona side who had the luxury of being able to test out a different formation following their 7-0 rout in the first leg. And it allowed them to dominate the opening stages of the game. Luis Enrique opted to field a system with three centre-backs, two wing-backs, plus another three players in midfield, leaving Sandro Ramirez and Munir El Haddadi on attacking duty.

Valencia CF took a little longer to get into the game and they almost managed to open the scoring once they did, but Jeremy Mathieu was there to clear the ball off the line. After several unsuccessful shots by the Azulgranas, Valencia went ahead thanks to an Alvaro Negredo strike. The 30-year-old went through one-on-one with Marc-Andre ter Stegen and was left with a simple finish off the rebound following the German keeper’s initial block.

Barcelona tried to step things up a gear in the second half, whilst the home team sat back hoping to capitalise on the quality of Fran Villalba or the pace of Pablo Piatti. In the closing stages, the visitors levelled with a goal by Wilfrid Kaptoum. The Catalan side defended their first-leg advantage and will go on to play their sixth final in the past eight years.