Barcelona‘s stellar domestic campaign shows no signs of slowing.
La Liga’s runaway leader has booked a spot in the Copa del Rey final after seeing off Valencia 2-0 Thursday at the Mestalla Stadium for a 3-0 aggregate advantage, reaching the domestic cup final for a record 40th time, one better than rival Real Madrid.
Blockbuster January signing Philippe Coutinho was the hero when the Brazilian lunged to meet Luis Suarez‘s cross to open both the second-leg scoring and his Blaugrana account in the 49th minute. Suarez also assisted Coutinho’s first Liverpool goal five years ago.
🔥🔥🔥 ¡GOOOOL! ¡Debut goleador de @Phil_Coutinho con el @FCBarcelona_es! Conexión de los ex del @LFC, @LuisSuarez9 al brasileño y es 0️⃣-1️⃣ (0-2) #CopadelRey pic.twitter.com/eHT2e3yipj
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) February 8, 2018
Second-half substitute Coutinho’s goal doubled Barcelona’s aggregate advantage after Suarez gave the holder a narrow lead with a 1-0 first-leg victory at the Camp Nou.
Suarez again played provider 10 minutes from time when the Uruguayan recovered the ball in the midfield before finding Ivan Rakitic in loads of space. Rakitic fired home …read more