Barça hold on to send Real out of King's Cup

Barcelona dealt Real Madrid another body blow when they held off their arch rivals to draw 2-2 in a dramatic King's Cup quarter-final second leg on Wednesday and send the holders out 4-3 on aggregate.

After Barça won last week's first leg in Madrid 2-1, Real came out swinging and probably had the better of the opening exchanges before Lionel Messi released substitute Pedro to open the scoring in the 43rd minute in front of almost 100,000 spectators at a raucous Nou Camp stadium.

Daniel Alves netted a spectacular second in first-half added time when he ran on to a loose ball and sent a thunderous drive arrowing past Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas into the top corner.

Barca appeared to be in total control but Real mounted a rousing late fightback.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored the extra-time winner when Real beat Barça 1-0 in last year's Cup final, sped on to Mesut Ozil's pass and finished past Jose Manuel Pinto just over 20 minutes from time and Barca were reeling when substitute Karim Benzema levelled four minutes later.

Both sides had chances in the frenetic final stages before Real centre back Sergio Ramos was shown a second yellow card and was sent off as Barça ran down the clock to set up a semi-final against Valencia or Levante.