Copa del Rey: Barcelona wins 3-0 with Bernal and Raphinha, but Atletico goes to the final

Humiliated, but survived. Atletico Madrid lost the semi-final second leg of the Copa del Rey 3-0 at Camp Nou but reached the final of the tournament thanks to a 4-0 win at the Metropolitano. Barcelona did almost everything: an exceptional game and 3 goals, but on April 18th at the Cartuja in Seville they will not be able to defend the title they won a year ago. Atletico returns to the final for the first time since 2013, when they won at the Bernabeu to end Jose Mourinho’s three-year spell as a Blanco, and awaits the winner of the Basque derby: tomorrow evening Real Sociedad-Athletic Bilbao, with Matarazzo’s team winning 1-0 in San Mames.

the siege

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Flick has prepared an eleven full of youth, desire and skill, and his boys responded with great courage. Time 76 seconds and a right-foot shot from Fermín chipped the crossbar of Musso, the former Atalanta cup goalkeeper. It could have been the explosive spark and it went out without causing anything to burn. But Barça had patience, as well as breath, faith and football. He crushed Atletico in his area, as expected. And he started pulling. Not always with quality, but with great continuity. And above all he practically never risked the opponent’s counterattack, nor did he expose his fragile defense to the fearsome speed of Lookman, Giuliano and Julian.

there he is

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It took Lamine Yamal a while to warm up on the pitch cut by an unfriendly wind, but when he did it was decisive. Corner from the right, the 18-year-old from Barça changes flanks, plants Lookman as if he were the corner flag and from the back serves Marc Bernal a ball to push into the empty net. Griezmann puts his two index fingers together in desperation: some of his teammates missed the mark, the two fingers indicating two players separated and in the 29th minute Barça took the lead with an action put together and finalized by two 2007 players, with Lamine Yamal at 15 assists for the season, blessed boy.

error and goal

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The turning point in recovery. The referee had been there for 3 minutes and in the second Marcos Llorente put the equalizing ball on Lookman’s head, but the Nigerian missed and devoured his team’s only chance. And obviously he doesn’t get away with it: on the counterattack, Pubill knocks Pedri down in the area, sending Raphinha to the spot for the penalty which sends everyone to the break with Barça at 2-0.

resistence

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In the second half after Kounde Flick also lost the full-back who had replaced him, Balde ran out of substitution windows, but in the 72nd minute he found the third goal, again with the exceptional Bernal following a cross from Cancelo. Araujo came in and went to play center forward, but Barça was exhausted and Atletico resisted, clinging to Cholismo’s boards and defending with everything they had (15 corners to zero…). Not a great show, but worth a final.