FOOTBALL – Fermin Lopez scored one goal and laid on two more as Barcelona tore through Athletic Bilbao to record a 5-0 victory in their Spanish Super Cup semi-final played in Jeddah last night, extending the Catalans’ winning run to nine matches.
Raphinha scored twice while Ferran Torres and Roony Bardghji were also on target in a dominant display as Barcelona led 4-0 at halftime and now await the winner of tonight’s second semi-final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, also to be played in Jeddah.
Barcelona were ahead in the 22nd minute through Torres, taking an awkward pass that appeared to be a shot gone wrong from Fermin, and his fine first touch allowed him to fire into the back of the net from seven yards.
It was 2-0 on the half-hour mark when Raphinha reached the byline and his low cross to the middle of the penalty box was brilliantly turned into the net by Fermin.
Fermin then made it a hat-trick of goal contributions when he turned provider again for Bardghji on 34 minutes, though it was a simple pass into the latter, who twisted and turned in the box before firing low into the net.
Barcelona were rampant at this stage and they added a fourth through Raphinha when he burst into the box and blasted into the roof of the net.
The Brazilian netted his second on 52 minutes as Bilbao failed to clear a ball into the penalty area, and Raphinha fired home a left-footed shot.
Barcelona are looking to defend the Super Cup title they won last season, extending their record number of victories in the competition to 15.
The final will be played on Sunday in Jeddah.
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