Karim Benzema scored a second consecutive hat-trick as Real Madrid hammered Barcelona 4-0 at Spotify Camp Nou on Wednesday to set up a Copa del Rey final against Osasuna in May.
Benzema, who also netted a treble against Real Valladolid at the weekend, scored three times in the second half to silence the home crowd of over 94,000 and book Madrid’s place in their first domestic cup final since 2014.
Vinicius Jr. had earlier opened the scoring on the stoke of half-time to level the tie on aggregate after Barcelona’s narrow 1-0 win in the first leg of the Copa semifinal last month.
Rapid reaction
1. Madrid end Clasico drought to reach final
Barcelona had won the last three meetings between the two sides and started the game well despite missing four of their key players in Andreas Christensen, Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and Ousmane Dembele through injury. Despite zipping the ball around nicely, though, they lacked a punch in the final third in a match, which threatened to spill over at times. Gavi and Vinicius nearly came to blows in a fiery first half.
Alejandro Balde was a threat at left-back and it was his cross which almost led to an opening goal. Robert Lewandowski‘s crisp shot was saved by Thibaut Courtois, though, and 30 seconds later Madrid led. Vinicius broke and his shot, after collecting the ball from Benzema, squeezed over the line despite the best efforts of Jules Kounde to keep it out.
