Valencia 0-5 Barcelona: Torres scores hat-trick against boyhood club in Copa rout

Ferran Torres scored a hat-trick inside the first 30 minutes to lead Barcelona to an imperious 5-0 rout of Valencia in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals on Thursday.

Playing in his home town against his childhood club, for whom he made 71 league appearances between 2017 and 2020, Torres scored from a quick counterattack to open the scoring after just two minutes.

He then fired home on the rebound after a Lamine Yamal strike ricocheted off the post 15 minutes later, with Barca dominant despite resting star striker Robert Lewandowski.

Fermin Lopez scored their third to cap another counter five minutes later, and Torres gave Barca a four-goal lead on the half-hour mark with a fine strike from the edge of the box.

The visitors took their foot off the gas after the break, but Yamal still added a fifth goal in the 52nd minute, with a strike that deflected off both Mouctar Diakhaby and Yarek Gasiorowski before finding the net.

Barca, who also crushed Valencia 7-1 in LaLiga just over two weeks ago, will join Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad in the semi-finals.

Data Debrief: Torres wastes no time

With his third goal being timed at 29 minutes and 10 seconds, Torres scored Barcelona’s fastest hat-trick in any competition since October 2008.

On that occasion, Samuel Eto’o only needed 28 minutes to bring up his treble in a 5-0 league win over Almeria.

This will be the first edition of the Copa del Rey since 2014 to feature Barca, Real Madrid and Atletico in the last four. On that occasion, Real Sociedad also made the semi-finals.

It was Real Madrid that lifted the cup that year, though, courtesy of a memorable Gareth Bale winner against Barca in the final.