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Philippe Coutinho savoured a “special moment” after his first goal for Barcelona helped them reach their fifth consecutive Copa del Rey final.<\/p>\nPhilippe Coutinho savoured a “special moment” after his first goal for Barcelona helped them reach their fifth consecutive Copa del Rey final.<\/p>\n
Coutinho opened the scoring in a 2-0 win at Valencia that sent Barcelona through 3-0 on aggregate, the Brazilian netting four minutes after coming on at half-time for his fifth appearance since his \u00a3142m switch from Liverpool last month.<\/p>\n
He was quoted on Barcelona’s Twitter feed as saying: “I feel happy to have scored my first goal for Barca and have helped the team get to the final.<\/p>\n
“It’s a special moment.”<\/p>\n
Coutinho’s goal came when he slid to get his right leg to a cross from Luis Suarez, who also produced the assist when Ivan Rakitic struck in the 82nd minute.<\/p>\n
Barcelona will face Sevilla in the final, aiming to win the Copa del Rey for a fourth successive season and a 30th time overall.<\/p>\n
Boss Ernesto Valverde said in quotes reported on AS: “Barca are used to reaching and playing the finals. In my case, not so much.<\/p>\n
“I feel very happy as it is the fifth consecutive final that the players of this team are going to play, something very complicated to repeat and repeat.<\/p>\n
“We thought it would be very difficult and that’s how it was, but we’re going home with the final ticket in our pocket.”<\/p>\n
When asked how Gerard Pique was after the defender came off in the final 10 minutes, Valverde said: “In the end he noticed an overload and we decided that the best thing of all is that the player rests.”<\/p>\n
Valencia boss Marcelino said as he gave his reflections on the game: “I think they (Barcelona), in general, were superior. We had our opportunities.<\/p>\n
“I think that in the first half we deserved to go level, but we did not do it and then their goal (Coutinho’s) decided the tie.”<\/p>\n