Barcelona and comebacks have become synonymous in recent times. With another spectacle show at the Camp Nou yesterday, Barcelona registered their place in the Copa Del Rey final, beating Sevilla 3-0 after extra time, turning a 0-2 first leg deficit into a 3-2 aggregate win.
After taking charge, Ronald Koeman had to go through a lot, but lately he has started pouring answers to his critics. In 2021 alone, Barca have managed to pick up 28 points out of a possible 30 in the league, conceding only 7 in the process. The game before the semi final second leg was also against Sevilla, but away at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuain in the Liga. With a surprised change of formation into 3-5-2, Koeman gave a surprise, but that went well as Barca completely dominated in the same ground where they lost 0-2 a couple of weeks ago. Barca went on to win the match 3-2.
Having required to score at least 2 goals to take the game into extra time, the Catalans found a dazzling start when Dembele scored the opener in the twelfth minute with a screamer. The passing and pressing from the Blaugranas were on point, yet a gritty defensive display from Sevilla made the task harder for the home side. Before the half time, Barca registered 8 shots with 3 of them on target, but couldn’t find their second goal.
In the 73rd minute, Oscar Mingueza brought down Ocampos in their own penalty area which awarded Sevilla a penalty. Ocampos took that penalty but once again Ter Stegen showed why he is rightly called the wall of Barcelona as he saved the spot kick diving on to his right. With the attacking intensity being increased by the home side in the dying minutes, Barca created too much pressure on Vaclik and his defence. When the fans were growing more and more desperate and tensed, Gerard Pique scored the second of the night off a beautiful cross from Antoinne Griezmann, in the fourth minute of additional time and fetched Barca a lifeline by extending the game to Extra Time! With already being reduced to 10 men, Sevilla got their job difficult to be done in the Extra Time.
Nothing much changed in the Extra Time too as Barcelona with a man advantage kept on piling pressure on their opponents, as a result of which Braithwaite scored the third of the night and secured his teams’ place in the final. This result means in altogether 210 minutes against Sevilla in last couple of games, Barca haven’t conceded a single goal, which puts a full stop in many questions that are asked of their defence.
The extraordinary scenes from the Camp Nou was a sight to behold, as the qualification to the Cup final brings a huge wave of motivation for the young squad going through a transition period.
