Barcelona bounced back from defeat in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final by beating Real Madrid 4-0 on Wednesday to book their place in the Copa de la Reina final.
Lieke Martens broke the deadlock in the first half before Aitana Bonmati, Mariona Caldentey and Asisat Oshoala all got in on the act after the break as Barca responded to losing to Lyon in the perfect way.
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Jonatan Giraldez’s side will now meet Sporting Huelva in Sunday’s final. A win would seal a domestic treble with the Primera Division title and the Spanish Supercopa already wrapped up.
“I want to congratulate everyone — the players, the coaching staff, everyone connected to the team — because it has been a difficult few days, but we still have our pride,” Barca captain Alexia Putellas told reporters at full time.
“It’s never easy against Madrid, so to play [like this after Lyon] has an incredible amount of merit. We played well. We knew we needed to play again as soon as possible, and it was even better that it was against Madrid.”
This was the sixth meeting between Barca and Madrid this season. Madrid had lost all five previous matches but came into this game with reasons to believe they could upset the Spanish champions.
While they were well beaten eventually in the Champions League quarterfinal between the two sides, there were signs that they are getting closer to their Clasico rivals.
Barca, meanwhile, entered the game on the back of that disappointing defeat to Lyon, a team they have never beaten, and there were questions about their frame of mind heading into the semifinal.
However, as has so often been the case with this Barca side — who have now won all 35 of their domestic games this season, including 30 out of 30 to complete a perfect league campaign — they answered those doubts with a dominating display.
Putellas and Oshoala had both already hit the woodwork when Martens opened the scoring in the 18th minute. The Dutch winger’s faint touch turned home a Putellas cross after a fine team move.
Barca could have scored more before the break, but a combination of sloppy finishing and good goalkeeping from Misa Rodriguez kept Madrid in the tie until the floodgates opened in the second half.
Bonmati added the second in the 47th minute after good work from Oshoala and the game was over as a contest five minutes later when Caldentey turned home from a corner.
Oshoala finally got on the scoresheet with 15 minutes to play after rounding Rodriguez to roll home as eight-time winners Barca advanced to the final for the sixth time in the last seven years.
