Karim Benzema scored his second hat-trick in four days as Real Madrid emphatically overturned a first-leg deficit against Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.
Barca had won 1-0 in Madrid last month but three goals from Benzema helped Real thrash their rivals at the Camp Nou to secure a spot alongside Osasuna in the final.
Vinicius Junior also scored on Wednesday as Real recorded their biggest margin of victory over Barca since 1995.
Real leveled the tie on aggregate with a goal right before half time in Wednesday’s second leg.
It was initially recorded as a Benzema goal after the Frenchman had fired the ball into the back of the net from ultra close range.
However, upon closer inspection, it was found that Vinicius Junior’s shot had already crossed the line before Benzema touched it.
But Real’s second goal of the game certainly belonged to Benzema.
It arrived four minutes into the second half when the Frenchman authoritatively stroked a low shot into the corner of Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s goal from 17 yards after being teed up by Luka Modric.
Benzema scored again in the 58th minute to put Real 3-1 up on aggregate. His second goal of the night came from the penalty spot after Franck Kessie had fouled Vinicius.
His hat-trick was complete nine minutes before full-time when he dinked a shot over Ter Stegen after being played in by Vinicius.
Benzema had also scored three goals in Real’s previous game – a 6-0 win over Valladolid in La Liga on Sunday.
