Barca through despite loss
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Barcelona lost 3-1 on the night against second division leaders Betis, but qualified 6-3 on aggregate thanks to their 5-0 first leg win. (Xinhua/AFP) |
FC Barcelona will play Almeria in the semifinal of the Copa del Rey knockout competition in Spain following the results from the second leg of their respective quarter-finals which were played on Wednesday night.
Barcelona lost 3-1 on the night against second division leaders Betis, but qualified 6-3 on aggregate thanks to their 5-0 first leg win, but a Barca 11 without Andres Iniesta, David Villa, Sergio Busquets, Dani Alves or Carles Puyol soon found itself trailing 2-0 on the night thanks to goals from Betis striker Jorge Molina.
The home side were playing with confidence, but Leo Messi effectively ended any slim chances they had of qualifying with yet another solo goal.
Although Arturo Arzu added a third for Betis before the break, his side still needed four goals more to reach the last four of the competition.
Messi missed a penalty 10 minutes into the second half as he slipped at the moment of kicking the ball.
The defeat brings an end to Barca's 28 game unbeaten run in all competitions.
Almeria will be Barcelona's rivals after reaching the semifinals of the competition for the first time in the club's history thanks to a 3-2 win in La Coruna.
The side that earned a creditable 1-1 draw against Real Madrid at the weekend, took a 1-0 first leg lead to Deportivo la Coruna's Riazor Stadium.
After a bright start to the game, Miguel Angel Corona opened the scoring for Almeria after a sharp shot from inside the Deportivo area. The way goal left Deportivo needing three goals to qualify and that was four a minute later when Albert Crusat put Almeria 2-0 ahead on the night with a shot that took a deflection before ending in the back of the net.
Pablo Alvarez gave some emotion to the game when he pulled a goal back just before halftime and Adrian Lopez leveled the score on the night from the penalty spot six minutes into the second half.
That left Deportivo still needing two goals to qualify and their dream was ended five minutes later when Henok Goitom added a third for Almeria to effectively kill off the tie.
Almeria sure to want to avoid a repeat of the 8-0 thrashing they received from Barcelona earlier in the season in the BBVA Primera Liga.
