Barcelona 7-0 Valencia as Suarez scores FOUR in Copa del Rey demolition

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick against Gary Neville's 10-man visitors, with Neymar also missing a penalty, as the semi-final was emphatically settled before the second leg

Luis Suarez scored four times and Lionel Messi netted a hat-trick as Barcelona thumped 10-man Valencia 7-0 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final at Camp Nou on Wednesday.

A pair of clinical finishes from Suarez had Luis Enrique's men two goals up within 12 minutes and the ruthless Messi soon made it three.

Neymar missed a penalty just before half-time after Valencia captain Shkodran Mustafi was sent off for bringing down Messi, who then notched his side's fourth in the second half.

The Argentine scored his third of the contest before Suarez headed home and struck again in the final minutes, with the stunning victory meaning Barca have won 12 of their last 13 games in all competitions and extend their unbeaten run to 27 matches.

Prior to the match, Gary Neville had urged Valencia to ensure they were still in the tie ahead of next Wednesday's second leg at Mestalla, but it will take a comeback of miraculous proportions for them to make the final from here after what is surely the lowest moment of his young coaching career.

It took fewer than seven minutes for Barcelona to go ahead. Neymar dispossessed Andre Gomes in midfield and punished Valencia by driving towards goal and slipping a pass through to Suarez, who clinically finished into the far corner.

The hosts netted a second – their 100th goal of the season – five minutes later. A slick passing move resulted in a superb chip forward by Sergio Busquets that was cleverly cut back by Aleix Vidal's first-time pass and Suarez powerfully struck past Mat Ryan.

Barca were threatening to end the tie as a contest when they struck a third in the 29th minute. Another brilliant sequence of play led to Andres Iniesta's pass being cleverly flicked on by Neymar and left by Suarez, allowing Messi to easily beat Ryan from just outside the six-yard box.

Neville made a first-half switch in a bid to change his team's fortunes, bringing Sofiane Feghouli on for Danilo, but it should have been four for Barca as they squandered two golden chances on the stroke of half-time.

First, a surging run and square pass from Suarez had Messi in prime position, but the Argentine's first-time effort bounced to safety off the crossbar.

A few moments later, Messi was brought down by Mustafi as he prepared to shoot, with the defender shown a straight red card.