Barcelona has booked a place in the Copa del Rey final after defeating Villareal 3-1 thanks to two goals from Neymar.
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Barcelona won 6-2 on aggregate and will play Athletic Bilbao in the final on May 30.
The Catalan club opened the scoring through Brazil’s Neymar just three minutes into the match when he tapped home a Lionel Messi cross. Villareal hit back 39 minutes later thanks to Jonathan dos Santos.
The game changed dramatically in the second half when Tomas Pina was red-carded for a lunging challenge on Neymar. Earlier a tackle from Pina had forced an injured Sergio Busquets from the field.
Barcelona took the advantage in the 74th minute when former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez pounced.
Suarez with a great goal. https://t.co/w15wgQqV1a
— ❤️=⚽️ (@Total_Futbol_) March 4, 2015
Neymar added Barcelona’s third, and his second of the night, two minutes before the end of the match.
The Brazilian star was again left alone in the box to head home a lofted pass from Javier Mascherano to clinch the win.
VINE: Neymar’s 2nd goal of the night: http://t.co/LD1HtbXDWN
— Neymar Stuff (@NeymarStuff) March 4, 2015
Barcelona advance to the Copa del Rey decider to play Athletic Bilbao after winning the first leg against Villareal by the same score of 3-1.
In the other semi-final, Aritz Aduriz and Xabier Etxeitia each scored in the first half to carry Athletic Bilbao to a 2-0 win at Espanyol.
With the scores 1-1 after the first leg, the visitors took the lead after 13 minutes as the home defence failed to clear Oscar de Marcos’ cross and Aduriz picked the ball up and slotted past a diving Pau into the bottom corner for his 15th goal this season.
Bilbao went 2-0 up just before the break as Etxeita headed home from Andoni Iraola’s corner to complete a 3-1 aggregate victory and set up a final clash with Luis Enrique’s men.