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Ferran Torres scored a hat trick in the first half hour to lead Barcelona to another rout of Valencia and a spot in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey on Thursday.
Torres scored in the third, 17th and 30th minutes in Barcelona`s 5-0 win at Valencia.
Fermin López scored in the 23rd and Lamine Yamal in the 59th for the Catalan club, which less than two weeks ago had handed Valencia a 7-1 rout at home in the Spanish league.
“We thought it was going to be a very difficult game but we were lucky enough to score early,” said Torres, a former Valencia and Manchester City forward.
“That`s what got them down. I wish them all the luck, I hope they escape relegation because I`m just another fan. It`s hard to see the club of your life suffer like this. They`re having a really bad time.”
Valencia, sitting second-to-last in the Spanish league and enduring an off-the-field crisis related to fan protests against Singaporean owner Peter Lim, was runner-up to Real Betis in the Copa in 2021-22.
Barcelona hadn`t made it to the Copa semifinals since being eliminated by Real Madrid in 2022-23. It last won the competition in 2020-21.
The Catalan club has outscored its opponents 26-11 in its last seven matches across all competitions.
Sociedad advances
Real Sociedad eliminated Osasuna for the second straight season with a 2-0 victory.
Ander Barrenetxea and Brais Méndez scored first-half goals to give Sociedad the home victory against an Osasuna team that played a man down from the 35th when Alejandro Catena was sent off with a straight red card after video review intervened.
Sociedad was already ahead 2-0 when Catena was sent off.
Sociedad had won by the same score at Osasuna in the round of 16 last season. It hadn`t made it to the last four since it won its third Copa title in 2019-20. Osasuna was runner-up to Real Madrid in 2022-23.
On Wednesday, Real Madrid edged Leganes 3-2 with a stoppage-time goal by 20-year-old Gonzalo García. Atletico Madrid had become the first team to reach the semifinals when it routed Getafe 5-0 at home Tuesday.
In the last quarterfinal on Thursday, Barcelona will visit Valencia.
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