Wednesday 3rd March 2021 Copa Del Rey Semi Final Second Leg
Barcelona 3-0 Sevilla
(Agg 3-2)
Barcelona have the opportunity to win their 31st Copa Del Rey trophy to extend their record after coming from 2-0 down after a devastating loss in the first leg at Sevilla last month.
Ousmanne Dembele fired past motionless Sevilla goalkeeper Vaclik with an unstoppable strike into the top corner from outside of the box creating two opportunities for Barca prior to his 12th minute goal.
The Catalans' dominance lasted throughout the tie with Messi and Jordi Alba's shots not quite hitting the nail on the head.
A swift counter attack in the second half earned Sevilla a penalty which Lucas Ocampos was denied by Barca keeper Marc Andre Ter Stegan.
The visitors then had Fernando sent off just before Gerard Pique headed home his incredible 51st goal for Barca for the dramatic equaliser in the 3rd minute of additional time. The assist was from Antoine Griezmann with a left footed in-swinging cross after a Messi corner was cleared to his feet.
Martin Braithwaite then scored the decisive goal short after in extra time in the 95th minute from a close range header to complete the 'Remontada'.
This was followed by Sevilla's second red card of the night picked up by de Jong when he was sidelined and excessively protesting the referee for his decisions which concluded this action-packed night.
Saviour Ter Stegen was lauded by his teammate Martin Braithwaite who said, "He always saves us when we need him and we have the world's best keeper at our club."
Ter Stegen said that, "the cup is one of the main objectives we wanted to accomplish and in this game we had to be very patient."
Boss Ronald Koeman added, "we deserve the win and we finally had a bit of luck on our side tonight."
"The team's physical state is unbelievable and the way we played without the ball and pressed Sevilla was the most important thing."
Barcelona are back to winning ways especially with Spanish youngster Pedri raring to go saying that he was "ready to play" and regarding his injury, "there was no pain."
Sevilla narrowly miss out on a chance to win the cup after 10 years with it eluding them. They sit comfortably however, in the Champions League places in La Liga above Real Sociedad while they travel to Elche next on Saturday.
Barca advance to the Copa Del Rey Final where they will play Levante or Atletico Bilbao in the final later this year.
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