Cup kings play their fifth straight final

Mission accomplished, Barcelona will compete in their fifth consecutive Copa del Rey final and will look to win the competition for the fourth time in a row for the first time in their history.

Despite historically the Copa del Rey carrying them through their bad form in the league, and helping them to the most victories at 29, they have never won four years in a row.

Only two teams have pulled it off before and neither were in the era of television.

Real Madrid (1905-1908) and Athletic Club (1930-1933) are the two members of an exclusive club.

In 1954, the Catalans came close, having won in 1951, 1952 and 1953, but they lost to Valencia 3-0 in the final and missed out on joining that group.

It was a huge disappointment for the club in one of its greatest eras.

For fans, it is a question of pride, given that the two other clubs to have pulled it off are the only two other sides never to have dropped out of the top flight.

Going for Piru's record

If Barcelona do beat Sevilla in the final on April 21st, they could continue to write their name into the history books as four players, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique, could claim their fifth medal in the competition, having also won in 2008/09 before this run.

The player with most titles is Piru Gainza, who won the Copa del Rey seven times with Athletic Club between 1943 and 1958.

For Barcelona, the record holder is Joan Segarra, who won six Copas del Generlisimo between 1951 and 1963.

Six other men have all held five medals, Ramallets, Torralba, Sancho, Samitier, Alcantara and Kubala, and they could soon be joined by the current quartet.

Full of cups

A hypothetical win over Sevilla would also mean that players who arrived in the summer of 2014, men like Ivan Rakitic, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Luis Suarez, have never failed to lift the trophy and are yet to taste Copa del Rey elimination.

For Thomas Vermaelen and Rafinha, it is slightly different, with the Belgian having been on loan at Roma in 2016 and the midfield currently on loan at Internazionale.

20 knock-outs in a row

With victory over Valencia, it is now 20 straight ties in which Barcelona have come out on top over two legs.

The last time they were beaten was by Real Madrid in 2012/13 under the charge of Tito Vilanova having drawn 1-1 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and lost 1-3 at the Estadio Camp Nou.

Since then, Barcelona have won three titles and only been beaten once, by Madrid in the 2014 final.