LONDON: Barcelona set up a Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday while Bayern Munich stayed on course for the defence of their German Cup title.

Cup action dominated Europe in midweek with Paris St Germain staying on course for a domestic treble by reaching the semi-finals of the French Cup and defending champions Napoli claiming a slight advantage in their Coppa Italia semi-final tie.

Two goals by Neymar and one from Luis Suarez gave Barcelona a 3-1 victory over 10-man Villarreal, completing a 6-2 aggregate win, as they reached their fourth Copa del Rey final in five years where they will face Bilbao.

Bilbao won 2-0 at Espanyol on Wednesday and 3-1 on aggregate, Aritz Aduriz and Xabier Etxeita scoring in the first half for Athletic to set up a repeat of the 2012 cup final which Barca won.

David Alaba and Mario Goetze scored for Bayern as they beat second division Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0 to advance to the German Cup quarter-finals.

Werder Bremen were the biggest casualties of the German Cup’s third round after their 3-1 defeat at third-division leaders Arminia Bielefeld while VfL Wolfsburg beat ambitious second-division club RB Leipzig 2-0 and Borussia Moenchengladbach won 2-0 at fourth-tier Kickers Offenbach.

PSG, who are third in Ligue 1 and through to the French League Cup final, made the last four of the French Cup when goals from David Luiz and Edinson Cavani gave them a 2-0 win over Monaco.

Elsewhere, Napoli’s Manolo Gabbiadini netted a precious second-half equaliser to earn a 1-1 away draw at Lazio in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final. Gabbiadini’s effort cancelled out Miroslav Klose’s first-half strike to leave it all to play for in the second leg next month.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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