Barcelona thrash Real Sociedad to reach King's Cup semis

By Richard Martin

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were on target as holders Barcelona thrashed Real Sociedad 5-2 to reach the King's Cup semi-final for the seventh successive year with a 6-2 aggregate victory on Thursday.

Former Manchester City trainee Denis Suarez gave Barca a commanding lead in the tie following last week's 1-0 win in the first leg by scoring the opener in the 17th minute, while Messi practically ended the contest by converting a penalty early in the second half after Neymar had been fouled.

Luis Suarez restored Barcelona's two-goal lead on the night a minute after Juanmi had netted for Real Sociedad in the 62nd minute. Willian Jose scored a second for the visitors before substitute Arda Turan put Barcelona 4-2 ahead in the 80th minute.

Two minutes later Denis Suarez capped a brilliant individual performance by netting his second with a sweeping run and finish.

Barca join Atletico Madrid, Celta Vigo and Alaves in Friday's semi-final draw.

(Reporting by Richard Martin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)