What is the story about?
Barcelona’s
defense of the Copa del Rey title has ended at the semi-final stage thanks to a 3-0 win second leg win over Atlético Madrid at Camp Nou that wasn’t enough to turn around the 4-0 deficit from the first leg. Barça dominated the entire match and came very close to pulling off a miraculous Remontada, but Diego Simeone’s troops found a way to hold on to a narrow margin and move on to the Spanish Cup Final.
Reactions & Observations
- Diego Simeone is a master at defensive gameplans in knockout matches, and his strategy was pretty clear from the start: Atleti set up in a 5-4-1 with Giuliano Simeone as a wingback, and the Colchoneros parked the bus looking to limit Barça’s attack and trying to create danger on the counter.
- Barça came out with a very solid attacking plan and passed the ball quickly and with purpose all over the pitch, and were not afraid to take early shots from distance to test Juan Musso in goal. There was some bad news when Jules Kounde had to be replaced by Alejandro Balde due to injury, but that moved João Cancelo to right-back and made the team even more offensive.
- The Catalans were really good with the ball, but it took them a half-hour until a short corner routine ended with a beautiful move and assist by Lamine Yamal for a Marc Bernal tap-in. That woke up a Camp Nou that started super hot but quickly became nervous as Barça struggled to score, but the stadium was alive again.
- Atlético had a good response to going behind and created a couple of chances with Antoine Griezmann, but Barça controlled the visitors’ counter-attacking pretty well for the most part.
- Then came a gigantic sequence in the game: Ademola Lookman missed a wide-open header inside the six-yard box on a counter that would have put the tie to bed, and Barça immediately earned a penalty on the other end when Pedri was taken down by Marc Pubill inside the box. Raphinha scored from the spot, and Barça went into halftime with a precious two-goal lead that gave them a real shot at a comeback.
- Barça carried the momentum from Raphinha’s goal into the start of the second half and absolutely blitzed Atleti, and that’s when Juan Musso shined: the goalkeeper made some splendid saves and key interventions that stopped Barça from scoring at least once before the hour mark, which would have truly ignited the tie.
- There was some more bad injury news as Balde was forced off with an apparent muscle issue as Barça lost both starting full-backs on the night, and things started to feel a little desperate and tense with 20 minutes to go.
- And then, hope: another short corner led to an outstanding cross by Cancelo and a beautiful volley by Bernal, and Barça were 3-0 up with 20 minutes to go and just one more goal needed to force extra-time.
- Hansi Flick made a couple of crazy tactical moves, putting Ronald Araujo up front as a striker and playing Pedri at center-back, and Barça had pretty much everyone forward looking for the miracle.
- Barça tried absolutely everything: several crosses into the box, shots from distance, and a very strong penalty shout that was ignored by the referee and VAR when Matteo Ruggeri pushed Raphinha in the back, but the fourth goal never came and the Remontada attempt ended in heartbreak at the final whistle.
- Despite the elimination, this was a tremendous performance that makes you proud and hopeful when it comes to this team’s chances for the rest of the season. Barça played with heart, passion and also displayed some fantastic attacking quality, and this is the kind of game that makes you fall in love with a team, even in defeat. Well done, boys.
