Barcelona beat Valencia, wish happy Chinese New Year

Barcelona's soccer players pose with a banner on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, before their Spanish First division soccer league match against Getafe at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, February 10, 2013. The banner reads, "Barcelona wishes you a happy Year of the Snake".??[Photo/Agencies]

MADRID - Regal Barcelona won their second Copa del Rey in three years as they beat Valencia basket 85-69 in the final of the knockout competition of Spanish basketball held in the Basque city of Vitoria.

Barcelona only qualified for the competition on the last possible occasion and had the toughest possible route to the final defeating league leaders Real Madrid and hosts Caja Laboral, who are second in the league, on their way to the final showdown with Valencia.

Valencia had also hit form in the cup, beating Asefa Estudiantes and Herbalife Gran Canaria in the quarter and semi-final to end a run of four defeats in the ACB Endesa league.

Valencia began the game strongly and held a narrow lead, 18-17 at the end of the first quarter, but that was the sign for Barcelona to begin their reaction, despite the fact that star player Juan Carlos Navarro played 20 minutes without scoring a single point.

Instead of Navarro leading the way as he so often does, several Barca players made their mark on the score with Pete Mickael top scorer with 14.

Mickael's final display was not his best over the four days of competition, but his displays against Madrid and Caja Laboral were enough to see him named MVP for the tournament.

Meanwhile Ante Tomic, who joined Barca from Real Madrid, and Marcelo Huertas both netted 13 points and Brad Oleson scored 12.

Barca led 36-33 at the break and then produced their traditional spurt in the last 20 minutes extending their lead by a further five points in the third quarter and nine in the last 10 minutes.

The other news of the final was the fact that King Juan Carlos was booed by a large number of Basque and Catalan supporters on his arrival at the Buesa Arena, something that has been highlighted in several parts of the Spanish media.