France striker Thierry Henry scored the only goal of the two-legged quarter-final after stooping to head home Deco's right-wing cross in the 41st minute.

Villarreal then had centre-back Pascal Cygan sent-off for a second yellow card two minutes later, leaving the Yellow Submarine which too much of a mountain to climb in the second half.

Lionel Messi had the chance to double Barca's lead in the 75th minute after teenage striker Bojan Krkic had been brought down by Villarreal goalkeeper Diego Lopez inside the area, but the Argentinian ace saw his penalty saved.

It was not to prove costly though and Barca, who won the most recent of their 24 Copa del Rey titles back in 1998, join Valencia, Getafe and Racing Santander in the last four.

Valencia and last season's runners-up Getafe made it through on Wednesday night, while Racing joined them on Thursday, although Marcelino Garcia Toral's side were given a scare by Athletic Bilbao before progressing 5-3 on aggregate.

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg in Cantabria, Athletic quickly drew level overall thanks to goals from Fernando Amorebieta and an Inaki Munoz penalty inside the opening 26 minutes.

Athletic were knocked back on their heels just after half-time when Aldo Duscher netted a crucial away goal, but the hosts made it 3-1 two minutes later thanks to Markel Susaeta.

Try as they might Athletic could not get the fourth goal that would have put them ahead in the tie, and Racing pulled another strike back in the 72nd minute through Mohamed Tchite before Oscar Serrano snatched a last-gasp equaliser.