Ronald Koeman has reached the final of the Copa del Rey with Barcelona. His team had to put in a lot of effort for that. In the first leg in Seville it became 2-0 and also in the return that score was on the board after 90 minutes. So extend! Barça was the strongest in this. Martin Braithwaite headed Koeman to the final.
Koeman entered the field with the same system as last Saturday (also 2-0 win against Sevilla). So a 5-3-2 system. That paid off.
Dembélé BOEM, Sevilla ultra-defensive
After 12 minutes it was a hit for Barça. Ousmane Dembélé brushed the ball into the top corner with conviction. With that, part of the deficit that Barcelona had incurred in the 1st match was cleared away. But Koeman’s team continued to look for the attack, while Sevilla was in its own 16 with the butt.
During one of the few outbreaks, the away team was awarded a penalty. Lucas Ocampos got behind the ball, only he failed from 11 meters. Marc-André ter Stegen stopped the penalty and Barcelona therefore stayed alive.
Done with Koeman? No renew again!
Time was ticking away for Koeman and Barcelona, but in the absolute final phase Gerard Pique became the absolute hero. He headed in a cross from Antoine Griezmann in minute 94. So renew again.
In that extension, the referee decided to wave a lot of cards, although he already gave Fernando red in regular playing time. No fewer than 3 Sevilla players got yellow within 3 minutes and 2 people on the bench, including Luuk de Jong, got red. Just before that, Braithwate had headed Barcelona to the liberating 3-0.
It was already the 5th extra time of Barcelona in 2021. This already happened against Real Sociedad (win after penalties) and Athletic Bilbao (2-3 loss) in the Spanish Super Cup and UA Cornella (2-0 win) and Granada (5 -3) win in the cup.
