Cristiano Ronaldo produced a world class performance to inspire Real Madrid to a comfortable 3-1 win over Barcelona in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final at the Nou Camp.
Barcelona were installed as favourites before the game and it didn't take much time at all for the Catalans to threaten the Madrid goal, with no surprises for guessing that it was Lionel Messi who came close just 90 seconds in. The Argentine took Pedro's pass on the spin with an exquisite first touch and flashed a right footed effort just wide of the far post from a tight angle.
The home side continued to dominate possession as one would expect, with Real Madrid happy enough to look to hit them on the counter attack, and Cesc Fabregas was the next to have a pop at Diego Alvez's goal only for the goalkeeper to save well low to his right.
Real Madrid's counter attacking game plan came to fruition on the 15 minute mark when Cristiano Ronaldo surged away from Gerard Pique on the right hand side before being brought down by the defender, who proceeded to make himself look a fool by passionately pleading his innocence despite replays showing clear contact and the most obvious of decisions for the referee. The Portuguese skipper picked himself and smashed it into the corner to give Jose Mourinho's team the lead.
The league leaders looked to respond instantly and had a penalty appeal of their own turned down when Fabregas was felled by Angel Di Maria, but there was nothing doing as far as the referee was concerned.
Despite Barcelona's dominance of possession it was Madrid who looked the more dangerous and Ronaldo went close to his second by cutting in from the left and sending a fierce shot into the gloves of Pinto.
The away side continued to threaten on the break, something that Manchester United will have to take note of ahead of their rematch next week, but Andres Iniesta and Fabregas both had decent opportunities to pull the match level. At the other end it was Gonzalo Higuain's turn to spurn a decent chance.
There was another penalty shout for Barcelona in the 35th minute as Xabi Alonso flattened Pedro but once again the referee wasn't impressed. He did however hand Messi a decent chance to level the score from a freekick on the edge of the box but the world's best player saw his audacious low drive fly inches wide of the post with Alvez beaten.
For the final 5 minutes of the half it was Madrid who looked the more likely to score the second goal of the night, and Sergio Ramos was inches away from sending a Ronaldo freekick into the back of the net.
It was fair to say at halftime that Barcelona were dominating possession but not controlling the match with Madrid looking far the more threatening and the home side lacking a cutting edge; an extraordinary array of technical midfielders seemed to be getting in each others way.
Ironically enough it was the most defensively minded of these midfielders who had the best effort at the start of the second half. The ball came to Sergio Busquets just outside the box after Real Madrid failed to clear and his drive was beaten away by Lopez.
Counter attacking was the route to the second goal of the night just as it was for the first, and it was Ronaldo who was on the end of it yet again. Di Maria broke clear down the left, left Carlos Puyol on the floor, his shot was turned into the path of Ronaldo by a despairing Pinto and the talismanic number 7 made no mistake.
The goal saw Barcelona call for a number 7 of their own as David Villa emerged from the bench to replace the ineffectual Fabregas.
It made little difference to their overall performance and they conceded a third goal with 68 minutes on the clock. A corner from the right allowed Raphael Varane to jump highest and head in off the underside of the crossbar. The marking was poor and the goalkeeper's positioning was also suspect, whilst the very idea that Barcelona were 3-0 down at home was quite frankly incredible.
Both sides knew the tie was over with the aggregate score sitting at 4-1, and the game continued to follow the usual pattern of Barcelona passing the ball around with no real intent, penetration or will to score. The body language of the players told its own story, and the lack of belief that had seemed to have enveloped the Barcelona team was quite extraordinary to behold given their dominance of European football over the last 4 years.
It's certainly easy to point to their lack of a manager at the moment, and the fans will be hoping that this current run of form doesn't derail their league form having been comprehensively beaten tonight and facing an uphill struggle to stay in the Champions League.
The game edged towards its conclusion with little of note until the introduction of Pepe from the bench, and it didn't take long for the Brazilian to spark a minor ruckus between himself, Busquets and Puyol.
A late wayward shot from Iniesta acted as a shocking reminder that Barcelona had managed just 2 shots on target all night, but Jordi Alba did manage to rectify that stat with a 3rd shot on target and a consolation goal in the 90th minute.
The final whistle signalled Real Madrid's passage into the final of the Copa del Rey, whilst Barcelona will need to pick themselves up quickly for this weekends La Liga El Clasico.
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