Barcelona hit five past Real Sociedad on Thursday to reach the King’s Cup semi-finals 6-2 on aggregate. 

The Catalans reached the final four for the seventh year in a row after Denis Suarez, who was handed a rare start, opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Lionel Messi converted a second-half penalty to send the hosts two clear after Neymar was brought down in the box.

Juanmi brought Real back into the match in the 62nd minute but it took Luis Suarez a minute to restore the two-goal cushion. Willian Jose scored for the visitors before Arda Turan and Denis Suarez completed the rout.

‘We started the game by dominating and once it was 1-0 they left us plenty of space and everything is easier when you have the three forwards we have,’ Denis Suarez told the media after the match.

‘We weren’t nervous at all, we just wanted to dominate the game and continue on this great run that we’re on.’

Barca’s progress to the final four sees them join Atletico Madrid, Celta Vigo and Alaves as the last four remaining sides in the race.