Fermin Lopez and Raphinha star for Barca as Yamal comes on as a late sub in the Super Coppa semifinal in Jeddah.
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 semifinal played in Jeddah.
Raphinha scored twice while Ferran Torres and Roony Bardghji were also on target in a dominant display, extending their team’s winning run to nine matches on Wednesday.
Hansi Flick’s team overpowered their Basque rivals by scoring four times in the first half while star forward Lamine Yamal watched from the bench.
Barcelona now await the winner of Thursday’s second semifinal between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, also to be played in the Saudi Arabian city.
The Catalans 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 close range.
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 goal on the 52nd minute as Bilbao failed to clear a ball into the penalty area, and Raphinha fired home a left-footed shot.
Yamal went on against Athletic as a late substitute and should be available to start for Sunday’s final, to be played at the same venue.
Barcelona are looking to defend the Super Cup title they won last season, extending their record number of victories in the competition to 15.
