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

Playing in his home town against his childhood club on Thursday, Torres scored from a quick counter-attack in the second minute and extended the lead in the 17th when he fired home a rebound from a Lamine Yamal strike that ricocheted off the post.

Fermin Lopez scored the third in another counter five minutes later and Torres gave Barca a four-goal lead on the half-hour mark with a 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.

Real Sociedad eliminated Osasuna for the second straight season in the Copa del Rey with a 2-0 win to advance to the semi-finals.

Ander Barrenetxea and Brais Méndez scored first-half goals to give Sociedad the home victory against an Osasuna team that played a man down from the 35th when Alejandro Catena was sent off with a straight red card after VAR intervened.

Sociedad were already ahead 2-0 when Catena was sent off.

Sociedad had won by the same score at Osasuna in the round of 16 last season. They hadn't made it to the last four since winning their third Copa title in 2019-20. Osasuna were runners-up to Real Madrid in 2022-23.

On Wednesday, Real Madrid edged Leganes 3-2 with a stoppage-time goal by 20-year-old Gonzalo García.

Atletico Madrid became the first team to reach the semi-finals when they routed Getafe 5-0 at home on Tuesday.

with Reuters