Attack earned Betis victory: Adriano

Barcelona defender Adriano admitted Real Betis deserved their 3-1 Copa del Rey win after a brilliant attacking display on Wednesday.

A 5-0 win at home in the first leg means Barcelona still progress to the cup semi-finals 6-3 on aggregate, but the Brazilian said all the credit went to Betis’ finishing, which saw them score all three goals in the opening 45 minutes in the second leg.

“I think that they were very focused. It’s been a while since a team went on the attack against Barcelona, and the manager said that he would use everything that we had in Seville. Betis are a very good team. They showed that (Wednesday),” Adriano said.

The 26-year-old added that the three points in Barcelona’s home fixture against Racing Santander in La Liga on Saturday would be the perfect tonic to recover from their first loss in 29 games in all competitions.

“Everyone is focusing on our loss and, as of tomorrow, we will go back to focusing on the game against Racing. We can’t wait for Saturday,” he said.

“Four points is an advantage that we want (over the second-placed Real Madrid), but it isn’t definitive. There is a long way to go -the whole of the second half- and in football there have been teams with greater advantages who haven’t gone on to win the title. Anything is possible.”