By Nick Said, Reuters.
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, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, 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 Thursday’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.