Barcelona put one foot in Spanish Cup final

AFP - 6 February 2009 00:45

Barcelona´s French forward Thierry Henry (R) celebrates with teammate Spanish forward Bojan Krkic (L) after scoring during the Spanish Kings Cup semi-final match Barcelona vs Mallorca at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez shot Barcelona to a 2-0 victory.

MADRID (AFP) - Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez shot Barcelona to a 2-0 victory over Real Mallorca at the Nou Camp stadium on Thursday in the Spanish Cup semi-finals first leg.

A header from Henry, who has scored 12 league goals for Pep Guardiola's men this season, from a Bojan Krkic cross past Mallorca's Argentinian keeper German Lux put Barcelona ahead in the 35th minute.

Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez and Samuel Eto'o were absent, though Cameroonian star Eto'o did come on briefly at the end of the match, while Andres Iniesta, Henry and Lionel Messi, who replaced Henry at half-time, played.

Barcelona, the runaway leaders in the Spanish League, doubled their score in the 73th minute through a superb freekick from Mexican Marquez (73).

On Wednesday, Sevilla beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1 with an injury time winner in the other semi-final.