Guardiola: It will be a fascinating final

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has predicted a "beautiful" Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao after the Catalan club advanced last night at the expense of Valencia. There was all to play for with the tie finely balanced at 1-1 heading into last night's second leg at the Camp Nou, but the hosts needed only 16 minutes to take the lead through a neat finish from Cesc Fabregas. Sofiane Feghouli was sent off for the visitors in the 76th minute for a second bookable offence and soon after Xavi eased any Barça nerves by grabbing his side's second goal to secure a 3-1 aggregate win. The triumph set up a final against Athletic, who completed an 8-3 aggregate win over Mirandes on Tuesday, and Guardiola believes the May date will prove a "marvelous spectacle". He added on fcbarcelona.cat: "We're very excited to play against Athletic. We're happy to have another final saved away. It's a final with the teams that have the most titles in the competition. "I believe it will be fascinating, because I haven't seen a team that plays into space like Athletic. They will come for us, and we'll do the same. It'll be a beautiful final for spectators that will give prestige to the competition." Guardiola was pleased with how his side went about their task against a dangerous Valencia team. "In Valencia we played an extraordinary game, and (last night) we did it again. We generated a lot of football, with an almost infinite amount of plays," the 41-year-old said after guiding his side to their third Copa final in four years. "It's a great achievement. It says a lot about the players. They're calm, happy, knowing that they won the tie. I'd say that they are pleased, but calm. They did what they had to do." He continued: "When you're tempted to doubt a player, to say that they are tired or comfortable, count to five or six and think about how some people regard this competition as the least prestigious, the one that's least valuable, we've reached the final three out of four years." Like Guardiola, Barça vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu was thrilled with the achievement. "The objective was to reach the final and it hasn't been easy, because Valencia are very tough rivals," he said. "We are very pleased to know in February that we have another final."