Goal: Henry 41'

Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the King's Cup on Thursday after a Thierry Henry header earned them a 1-0 aggregate victory over 10-man Villarreal at the Nou Camp.

The French striker scored the only goal of the tie when he planted a well-placed header beyond the reach of Villarreal keeper Diego Lopez four minutes before halftime.

Earlier Racing Santander, who are riding high in fifth place in the league, made the semi-finals for the first time after a 3-3 draw at Athletic Bilbao put them through 5-3 on aggregate.

The two sides will join last season's losing finalists Getafe and Ronald Koeman's Valencia in the hat for Friday's semi-final draw.

Anxious to appease their fans after falling nine points behind Real Madrid in the league last weekend, Barca made a lively start against Villarreal.

Argentine forward Lionel Messi proved a constant menace to the Villarreal back four with his electric runs from midfield, but despite manufacturing a host of scoring chances Barca were frustrated by some top-class goalkeeping from Lopez.

The Catalans eventually broke the deadlock late when the unmarked Henry headed in after Deco had floated a free kick into the area and moments later Villarreal received another blow when defender Pascal Cygan was sent off after picking up a second booking for a foul on Messi.

CONTROVERSIAL PENALTY

Barca should have extended their lead when they were awarded a controversial penalty 15 minutes from time, but Lopez made a great full-stretch save to stop Messi's spot kick.

A huge cheer went up when Ronaldinho came off the bench to make his first appearance of the year after recovering from a knee injury but there were sighs of relief at the final whistle as Barca withstood a late surge

Barcelona: Valdés; Zambrotta, Puyol (Thuram 46'), Milito, Abidal; Iniesta, Márquez (Xavi 68'), Deco; Bojan (Ronaldinho 75'), Henry, Messi.

Villatrreal: Diego López, Venta, Cygan, Godín, Capdevila; Senna (Bruno 48'), Josico, Cani, Pires (Josemi 46'); Rossi (Cazorla 46'), Tomasson.