Real Madrid 0-3 Barcelona: Luis Suarez scores cheeky Panenka to seal clasico Copa del Rey win
Luis Suarez scored twice as Barcelona maintained their stranglehold on the Copa del Rey with a 3-0 win at Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final.
Barca, competition winners for the past four seasons, were held 1-1 in the first leg at the Nou Camp and were second best for large periods in the return before running out convincing 4-1 aggregate winners.
Suarez struck against the run of play early in the second half and after Raphael Varane’s own goal left Real a mountain to climb, the Uruguay striker converted a penalty, Panenka-style, to silence the Bernabeu.
Real banished memories of their 5-1 La Liga defeat to Barca in September by shading the first leg earlier this month, but the visitors were clinical in the Spanish capital to seal a sixth successive final appearance.
The home side were aggrieved not to have been awarded a penalty by the video assistant referee in the 14th minute.
Vinicius Junior’s tumble in the penalty area after Nelson Semedo’s challenge was referred back to VAR by match official Sanchez Martinez, who had initially appeared unmoved, but play continued.
Real’s best early efforts in a frenetic opening came through Vinicius Junior, who fired over the crossbar and had another shot saved by Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Vinicius’ pace was causing the visitors problems. The Brazilian set up Karim Benzema, whose shot was comfortably saved by Ter Stegen, and then fired just over after another swift Real counter.
Barca had their moments in a goalless first half without creating a clear-cut chance, but Real, clearly intent on not relying on their away goal advantage, shaded it as the pace of an end-to-end encounter was unrelenting.
Benzema headed Toni Kroos’s free-kick narrowly over soon after the restart and at the other end Gerard Pique was off target with a similar effort from Lionel Messi’s set piece.
Barca then stunned the Bernabeu by snatching the lead in the 50th minute.
Luis Suarez in action at the Bernabeu (AFP/Getty Images)
Suarez appeared well covered by Sergio Ramos when Ousmane Dembele’s cut back from the left reached him inside the area, but he shimmied to create space and side-footed home an emphatic finish.
The Uruguay striker maintained his impressive record at the Bernabeu by scoring his 17th goal in 18 visits.
There was no let-up. Barca were unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty when Ivan Rakitic appeared to be fouled by Ramos, while Real were denied an equaliser by Ter Stegen’s brilliance as he kept out Sergio Reguilon’s header.
Vinicius went close again for the home side when his run carried him into the area, but his deflected shot curled agonisingly wide.
Barca, outplayed for long periods, then dealt Real a hammer blow with their second goal on the night.
Dembele again was the provider as his precision pass into the area from the right was turned into his own net by the sliding Varane, who was under pressure from Suarez.
Barca sealed their place in the final when Suarez was fouled by Casemiro on the left edge of the box and then dinked home his spot-kick straight down the middle.
Hello! Welcome along to our live coverage of Real Madrid vs Barcelona, and the second leg of this Copa del Rey semi-final. Kieran will be along shortly with all the team news and build-up, but in the meantime here's our predicted line-ups:
We'll be here with all the build-up and team news as soon as we get it here on The Independent live blog, but if you needed reminding at how much this fixture means for the fans, have a look at how the Real Madrid team bus was welcomed into the Santiago Bernabeu this evening.
The teams are in, and Real Madrid manager Santiago Solari makes two changes from the side who squeezed past Levante 2-1 in La Liga on Sunday.
Keylor Navas replaces Thibaut Courtois in goal, while Sergio Ramos comes in for Nacho in central defence - Ramos was serving a one-game suspension at the weekend for a red card picked up 10 days ago against Girona.
Gareth Bale, despite netting the match-winner from the penalty spot on Sunday, only makes the bench.
Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde makes three changes from the team who beat Sevilla 4-2 on Saturday.
In defence, Clement Lenglet comes in for Samuel Umtiti (who was a doubt through injury), Sergi Roberto replaces Arturo Vidal in midfield and Ousmane Dembele is preferred to Philippe Coutinho in attack.
A few stats coming your way ahead of kick-off at 20:00.
This is the eighth time Real Madrid and Barcelona have met in the Copa del Rey semis, with Real progressing four times including the last two in a row.
Real Madrid have not won at home against Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey since the quarter-finals of the 1969-70 season (three draws, one loss since then)
And here's the real whopper:
Barcelona could tonight become the first team in Spanish Cup history to reach SIX consecutive finals.
A reminder that the holders thrashed Sevilla 5-0 in last year's final at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Lionel Messi is appearing in his 40th El Clasico tonight.
My favourite Messi moment in this great fixture was his wonderful individual goal in the 2011 Champions League semi-final at the Bernabeu, helping his side to the final that year at Wembley, where they were victorious.
