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Copa Del Rey Final: Messi Leads Barca to Cup Triumph

Published

10 years ago

May 31, 2015

A magical Lionel Messi goal, the first of a brace, set treble-chasing Barcelona up for a 3-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao to lift the King’s Cup on Saturday and complete a domestic double.
The Argentina forward skipped past four Bilbao players on a mazy run before shooting low into the corner past keeper Iago Herrerin after 20 minutes for his 33rd goal in his 50th appearance for Barca in the Cup.
Messi has been in blistering form in the second half of the season and once again provided the inspiration for Barca, who went further ahead through Neymar when he slotted into an open goal having been set up by Luis Suarez after 36 minutes.
With the Bilbao defence dozing, Messi nipped in to clip home a Dani Alves cross after 74 minutes and then a flicked Inaki Williams header gave the Basque side a consolation before tempers frayed near the end following an incident involving Neymar.
Barca’s South American attacking trident has scored a Spanish record of 120 goals in all competitions this season, two more than Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain managed in the 2011-12 season for Real Madrid.
Having also won La Liga, Barca now set their sights on the Champions League final where they face Juventus at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on June 6th.