Barcelona in 7th heaven

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (left) tries to dodge his way past Valencia players in their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg at Camp Nou on Wednesday. The hosts won 7-0. (Photo: AP)

Luis Suarez scored four and Lionel Messi hit a hat-trick as Barcelona piled more misery on Gary Neville’s ill-fated reign as Valencia boss to take an unassailable 7-0 lead in their Copa del Rey semifinal, first-leg on Wednesday.

Two fine finishes inside 12 minutes from Suarez put Barca in control before Messi rounded off a fine team move for Barca’s third. It could have been even worse for Valencia as Neymar hit the post from the penalty spot after Shkodran Mustafi was sent-off for bringing down Messi inside the area.

However, Messi and Suarez both added two more after the break to make next week’s second-leg at the Mestalla a formality. “It is one the best games we have played all season in every sense,” Suarez said.

“From the first minute to the last we showed a great attitude, we were good on the ball and we have a good advantage.” The Cup had been Neville’s one refuge during a winless run of eight league games since taking charge in December, but Valencia were blown away by a Barca side back to their best and on the verge of a fifth final in six seasons.

However, Neville insisted he wasn’t prepared to resign just two months after taking charge. “I won’t sleep well tonight. I didn’t like what I saw. The fans didn’t deserve that and we have to recover incredibly quickly,” said the former Manchester United captain.

“It’s going to be a painful three or four days. This was one of my most painful days in football.”

Neymar had made headlines earlier in the week as he was quizzed by a judge in Spain’s top court over the murky transfer deal which brought him to Barca in 2013 amidst corruption and fraud allegations.