Real Madrid humiliates Barça thanks to hat-trick Benzema and is in the final


Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 10:55 PM• Mart van Mourik • Last update: 23:00

Real Madrid qualified for the final of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday evening. After the 0-1 defeat at the Santiago Bernabéu the Royal against Barcelona in the Spotify Camp Nou: 0-4. Vinícius Júnior provided the opening goal on the stroke of the halftime signal; in the second half, Karim Benzema was the big man with an unadulterated hat-trick. In the final, coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team will face Osasuna, which Athletic Club eliminated in the semi-final.

On the Catalan side, striker Robert Lewandowski was flanked by Raphinha (right) and Gavi (left). Partly due to the absence of Frenkie de Jong, the midfield consisted of Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Franck Kessié. The latter was crowned match winner in the last mutual meeting. The injured Andreas Christensen was replaced at center back by Marcos Alonso. Ancelotti opted, among others, for Eduardo Camavinga on the left back position. The French midfielder has successfully filled that position before. Federico Valverde was in midfield together with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. Rodrygo and Vinícius Júnior flanked Benzema.

Barcelona hoped to take the lead in the second minute of play. After a nice pass from Gavi, Raphinha seemed to be able to open the score, but Camavinga came just in time to clear the shot from the goal line. Ten minutes later, Ronald Araújo had to act on the other side to neutralize a dangerous shot by Vinícius Júnior. In the remainder of the first company, a few chances were noted on both sides. Raphinha (Barcelona), Benzema, Rodrygo and Alaba (Real Madrid), among others, tried their luck, although those attempts did not lead to the opening goal.

The scoreboard did start moving on the stroke of the halftime signal. Shortly after Thibaut Courtois made a beautiful save on a bet by Lewandowski, Real Madrid came out very quickly. Jules Koundé initially seemed to prevent Vinícius from scoring, but the defense had no answer to Benzema’s last push: 0-1. In the end it turned out that the Brazilian’s effort had already crossed the line before Benzema touched the ball.

In the second act, Real Madrid left its arch-rival completely without a chance. The score was doubled by Benzema in the fiftieth minute of play, when he received the ball from Modric on the edge of the box and found the bottom left corner with a placed shot: 0-2. The third goal came less than eight minutes later. Kessié made a light, unfortunate foul on Vinícius in the penalty area, after which referee José Munuera awarded a penalty to the Madrilenians. Benzema sent Ter Stegen into the wrong corner and scored his second of the evening.

The French striker then thought he could complete his hat-trick in the 77th minute. Benzema took the ball perfectly after a nice cross from substitute Marco Asensio, but the attempt that followed went just wide. The 0-4 finally fell four minutes later. Vinícius put his teammate face to face with Ter Stegen with a very nice foot movement, making it a breeze for Benzema to take care of the 0-4 from close by. In the final phase, Real Madrid was still hungry for more, although there was no change in the scoreboard.