By Victor Kanayo
Spanish giants Real Madrid humbled Barcelona 4-0 in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal, in a fiery affair at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night.
It was an encounter that Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick, making it his ninth hat-trick, since joining Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu.
Barcelona, with 15 points clear on the La Liga table, came into the match with a three-game win streak over their biggest rivals, having beaten them in the Spanish Supercopa in January, and the Copa del Rey first leg and LaLiga in March.
How Real thumped Barca
In any case, the tide turned, after a late first-half goal from Vinicius Junior and a second-half hat trick by Benzema, put Madrid on track for the 4-1 aggregate win and a date with Osasuna in the Copa del Rey final.
Barca looked set to their dominance for much of the first half, but a quick-hitting counter-attack at the end of the opening 45 minutes, finished with Vinicius flicking the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen, to level the tie on aggregate just before the break.
Benzema scored from open play soon after the restart and then extended Madrid’s second-leg lead to three from the spot, after Franck Kessie was whistled for a foul on Vinicius in the area.
With time running out for Xavi Hernandez’s side, Benzema netted his third of the game, after Vinicius played him into the area, with a clever pass and left the France striker with only Ter Stegen to beat.
On the La Liga table, Barcelona are 12 points ahead of Madrid.
