Barcelona gained the upper hand in their Copa del Rey semi-final
against Real Sociedad with a 2-0 victory in Wednesday night's first leg
at the Nou Camp.
Sergio Busquets gave the Primera Division
champions the lead just before half-time - moments after Sociedad had
had a decent penalty shout turned down when Carlos Vela appeared to be
tugged down by Javier Mascherano. Inigo Martinez could not hide his
frustration and was dismissed for dissent.
And the 10 men did not
help themselves after the interval as Gorka Elustondo blasted an
attempted clearance at helpless Sociedad goalkeeper Zubikarai, who
inadvertently diverted the ball into his own net.
The result put
Gerardo Martino's men in pole position to reach the final, most likely
against arch rivals Real Madrid after Carlo Ancelotti's side downed city
rivals Atletico 3-0 in the first leg of the other semi-final.
Sociedad
gave Barca an early scare when Vela capitalised on some sloppy
defending by Mascherano and fed Antoine Griezmann, who forced a decent
save from Jose Pinto within two minutes.
At the other end,
Zubikarai was called into his first serious action 10 minutes later to
smother a close-range Cesc Fabregas effort around the post. The
resulting corner was worked back to Fabregas, who saw his blast parried
away to Alexis Sanchez only for the Chilean to find the side-netting
from the rebound.
Lionel Messi had a couple of further sights of
goal for Barca as the half wore on, firstly just failing to connect with
Fabregas' whipped cross and then unleashing a fierce long-range effort
which rattled the frame of the goal.
The game's turning point arrived shortly before half-time, though.
Vela
latched onto a long ball and got a shot away, despite seemingly being
hauled down by Mascherano, only to see his attempt kept out by the
outstretched right leg of Pinto.
Appeals for a penalty fell on
deaf ears, and moments later Barca were ahead when Busquets rounded off a
scrappy move with a left-footed finish into the bottom-right corner.
Martinez was sent off for dissent after continuing his protests over the lack of spot-kick award for a little too long.
Barca
doubled their lead in comedy fashion just before the hour mark.
Fabregas' fine through-ball found Alexis and, although his left-footed
shot struck the post and fell to what seemed the relative safety of
Elustondo, the Sociedad defender blasted his attempted clearance at
goalkeeper Zubikarai.
Zubikarai was helpless to prevent the ball diverting into the net via his chest, giving Martino's men a deserved second goal.
The
hosts continued to push forwards looking to give themselves an even
more substantial cushion heading into next Wednesday's second leg in San
Sebastian - Pedro's shot flew narrowly over while Messi stretched for a
left-footed volley which Zubikarai did well to save - but the third
goal was not forthcoming.
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