Barbastro 2-3 FC Barcelona

BARBASTRO 2-3 FC BARCELONA to reach last 16 in Copa Del Rey

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BARBASTRO 2-3 FC BARCELONA to reach the round of 16 of Copa Del Rey. Barcelona struggled more than expected in a 3-2 win over fourth-division club Barbastro in the third round of the Copa Del Rey on Sunday. Barca dominated the first half and should have easily settled the tie but allowed Barbastro to hang around and had to suffer until the very end to hold on to the win and book a spot in the next round.

BARBASTRO 2-3 FC BARCELONA | Copa Del Rey

First Half: Barcelona’s coach Xavi Hernández picked a surprisingly strong lineup looking to kill the game off as early as possible. Barca came out with a good level of intensity and easily found spaces inside the Barbastro defense with good passing and movement in midfield.

The forward line of Joao Felix, Ferran Torres, and Raphinha had difficulties in front of the goal they missed many opportunities that kept Barbastro in the game. Missed key passes and poor crossing in the final third became concerns for Blaugrana. Fermín López opened the scoring for Barcelona with a low shot from near the penalty spot after a cross by Raphinha in the 18th minute.

Barcelona almost doubled the score line when Fermín’s cross found Félix all alone at the far post to head it home, but the Portuguese forward’s goal was ruled out for offside. There is no VAR rule in the early rounds of Copa Del Rey Joao Felix is not offside it’s a bad decision by the referee of this match. Barcelona was in control at this point of the Match, but bad finishing and a bad refereeing decision meant this was still a game ahead of the second half.

Barbastro 2-3 FC Barcelona
Source: www.fcbarcelona.com

Second Half: Barbastro came out with an attacking mindset they pressed higher up the pitch trying to force the Blaugrana into a mistake. Barcelona keeper Iñaki Peña saves shots to keep a lead alive.

Barcelona scored an important second goal in the 51st minute the Brazilian forward Raphinha received a beautiful cross in the far post for an easy tap-in from young full-back Héctor Fort. Catalans doubled their lead. Barbastro sends more players forward to put pressure on the Catalan defense. Joao Felix tried to stop a ball from going out for a throw-in and gave the home team a corner instead. That corner was sent into the box and won by Jaime Ara, and Adrià de Mesa was quickest to the rebound and fired it home to give the hosts plenty of life with a half-hour to go.

Barbastro creating real issues for the Catalans. Coach Xavi decided to bring Brazilian strikers Victor Roque, Robert Lewandowski, and Ilkay Gündogan from the bench. Barcelona looking for a third goal to kill the game. It took

a while, but Barça finally found the third goal when Lewandowski’s header in the box hit Javito López’s hand twice, and the referee had no choice but to give the penalty.

Lewandowski stepped up and easily scored from the spot, and Barça finally confirmed the victory. They had to suffer just a little more as Fermín López fouled Crespo inside the box and Marc Prat scored a late penalty for the hosts, but time ran out for Barbastro, and the final whistle came to guarantee Barça a spot in the Round of 16.

 

Post-Match

After winning (BARBASTRO 2-3 FC BARCELONA) Barcelona Coach Xavi Hernández was disappointed with performance of the team, in a post-match interview Barcelona Coach Xavi Hernández said. “It’s a game in which you can score several goals, but when you don’t, you end up suffering more than expected.”

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