Thursday 26 January 2012

Alves and Messi End Real Hopes


Barcelona survived a late fightback by Real Madrid to secure their passage through to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey with a 4-3 aggregate win.

Leading 2-1 from the first leg, Lionel Messi jinked through the Madrid defence to find Pedro, who slotted in before Dani Alves earned a three-goal cushion.

Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed one back from close range before Karim Benzema brought the sides level on the night.

Sergio Ramos was shown a red card for an elbow on Sergio Busquets late on.

Madrid dominated a frantic game and could have been ahead within seconds as Gonzalo Higuain screwed his shot wide when clean through on Jose Manuel Pinto.

Kaka then drove into the penalty area to find Ronaldo, whose effort was superbly tipped around the post by Pinto, before Gonzalo Higuain hit the bar from 30 yards.

Jose Mourinho's side also had a penalty appeal waved away when Carles Puyol seemed to push Pepe to the floor when attacking a corner kick.

But, despite the continued pressure, Madrid had to watch as Barcelona took a 2-0 lead into the interval.

Real thought they had a way back into the match eight minutes after half-time, but Ramos's header was ruled out for a pull on Alves.

They did halve the deficit on the night 14 minutes later when Ronaldo raced through on goal and showed great composure to round Pinto and slot into the empty net.

Four minutes later, it was 2-2 as Pique's clearance was intercepted by Mesut Ozil and Benzema took the ball past Carles Puyol before dispatching it into the net.

Messi twice came within inches of sealing the tie when his free-kick drifted over and then another effort from just outside the area went wide, but Barcelona once again came out on top as former Chelsea manager Mourinho left the Camp Nou winless in nine visits.

Madrid's victory earned them a last-four meeting with either Valencia or Levante.