Barcelona notch new club record, earn Copa del Rey final spot
Barcelona and boss Luis Enrique stand alone in club history after making it 29 matches without defeat Wednesday night, Wilfrid Kaptoum's late goal enabling them to grab a 1-1 draw with Valencia in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal at the Mestalla. The result sealed an 8-1 aggregate triumph.
Their berth in the Copa final May 21 had already been secured with a 7-0 first leg win a week ago, but having equalled Pep Guardiola's 2010-11 unbeaten run of 28 matches when they won Sunday at Levante, the Catalans had the new record to play for Wednesday night and they fought for it to the finish.
They will likely face Sevilla in the cup final. Sevilla takes a 4-0 lead to Celta Vigo Thursday night for the second leg of that semifinal.
Luis Enrique left his stars at home for the second leg and saw his team trail until the 84th minute when Douglas found Aleix Vidal with room on the left. Vidal laid a perfect cross on for the youngster Kaptoum, who calmly took his goal on his debut.
Before that, the struggling home side had appeared to be on the way to an important psychological boost, but they could not see the match out. Gary Neville sprinkled his side with youngsters, starting three teenagers as he saved many regulars for the La Liga tests ahead. The proud club is trying to escape a miserable season that has seen them drop near the relegation zone and was embarrassed by the first leg result in this Copa tie.
They took a 39th minute lead through Alvaro Negredo and seemed to be weathering the Barcelona attacks on a night when Enrique left his stars at home and fielded a side composed of reserves and youngsters. He sent Kaptoum on with nine minutes remaining and it was another substitute, Douglas, who started the play which kept the unbeaten streak alive.
Negredo's goal was a combination of good anticipation and a bit of good fortune in the 39th minute after the teams had produced very little in a pedestrian contest. The attack actually came off a Barcelona corner that was cleared quickly, then hammered downfield by Wilfried Zahibo.
Negredo was kept onside by Marc Bartra to receive the ball, then went in alone on Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The Barcelona keeper came off his line and blocked the first attempt, but the ball rebounded onto Negredo's chest and he was able to get his left foot on it to slide it into the empty net.
