MADRID_ He Athletic of Bilbao won 4-2 in extra time Barcelona this Wednesday to get into the semifinals of the Copa del Rey, driven by the Williams brothers.
“It was a game to remember,” said Athletic coach Ernesto Valverde after the match.
Athletic took the lead with a goal from Gorka Guruzeta (1), but Barcelona came back with goals from Robert Lewandowski (26) and Lamine Yamal (32) before Oihan Sancet (49) sent the game to extra time. There Iñaki Williams (107) and his brother Nico (120 + 1) sealed the pass.
“I feel proud on the one hand because I think we competed very well against a great team, and on the other hand I feel disappointed by the result,” Barça coach Xavi Hernández said after the game, encouraging his team to get up.
After losing the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid ten days ago, Barça suffered a new blow by losing the possibility of another title in San Mamés.
Barely 40 seconds had passed in this duel between the two teams that have won the Cup the most times when Guruzeta took advantage of a loose ball in the area to unleash a shot that slipped into the corner of Iñaki Peña (1).
A new early goal forced Barcelona to fight back for the umpteenth time this season.
Yamal balances
The Barça team regained control of the ball against an Athletic team that was pressing its rival’s exit and trying to cause damage with Nico Williams’ quick arrivals from the wing.
Barça began to get closer to Julen Aguirrezabala’s area and practically in the goal area, Yuri Berchiche poorly cleared a ball, which bounced off Lewandowski and went into the Basque goal (26).
Barça continued to press until Lamine Yamal, the most unbalancing man on his team, unleashed a low cross shot to make it 2-1 (32).
Athletic reactivated after the break, repeating their start to the match, soon finding the tie in a header from Oihan Sancet to a center from Nico Williams (49).
The Basque team maintained the pressure on Barça, who found it more difficult to move the ball due to the harassment of the locals, but were able to get ahead again in a quick counterattack by Lamine Yamal who lost the one-on-one with Aguirrezabala (65).
The Williams appear
Athletic came from the wings to put balls into the area, but they were not able to unbalance the match that had to go to extra time, where they continued along the same paths until the Williams appeared.
Having just arrived this Wednesday from the African Cup after the elimination of Ghana, Iñaki received a ball in the area and fired a shot that hit the post, but recovered the rebound to make it 3-2 (107).
After the goal, Barça practically lowered their arms and already in stoppage time, Nico Williams made it 4-2 (120+1), which puts Athletic in the Cup semi-finals for the fifth consecutive time.
Mallorca eliminates Girona
In the previous match, Mallorca cut short the cup dream of Girona, who aspired to reach the semifinals of the KO tournament for the first time.
The island team won 3-2 against the league leader, who was just one step away from turning around a match that Mallorca got back on track with goals from Cyle Larin (21) and Abdón Prats (28, 35), but which ended up playing with ten for the expulsion of Antonio Raíllo (67).
Girona gave excitement to the match until the last minute with goals from Cristhian Stuani from a penalty (68) and from Savinho (90+5).
“The team played a serious game,” explained Mallorca’s coach, the Mexican Javier Aguirre, after the game, who, however, admitted that after the expulsion “we were asking for time.”
From that moment on, Mallorca locked themselves behind to hold on until the referee blew the final whistle.
Source: AFP
