Amazingly enough, yesterday Barcelona managed to comeback Sevilla's 2-0 first leg win with a 3-0 victory in the second leg. Dembélé struck an amazing shot after being handed the ball by Messi, ending the first half 1-0 for Barça. In the second half, Sevilla got a penalty, where Messi also got a yellow card for argumenting, but Ter-Stegen saved Ocampos' shot, and when the chances of qualifying seemed grim in the end, a corner by Messi ended up being Piqué's equalizer to send the game to extra-time. And finally, in extra-time Braithwaite scored Barcelona's winner to send them into the Copa del Rey final. Messi's stats were the following: 1 SOT (7 in total), 13 dribbles, 3 key passes, 21 ground duels won, 6 fouls received, 2 tackles, 1 long ball, 1 cross, 84 passes and 146 touches, which meant yet another MoTM for him.
This was his performance on video, 17 minutes of pure poetry:
There's really not much to complain about (apart from the penalty given which would have costed the game), and the team performed great in general, from the goalkeeper to the forwards, as well as the substitutes. Our rival in the final will be either Athletic Bilbao or Levante.
It's also worthy to note that this is the third time Barcelona has comebacker a game/tie in the Copa del Rey this season (and the third time Messi spearheaded it), coming back from a 1-0 to a 2-1 against Rayo Vallecano (goal and pre-assist from Messi), from 2-0 to 5-3 against Granada (involved in 4 out of 5 goals from Barcelona), and finally from 2-0 to 3-2 against Sevilla, with 2 goals influenced by Messi. He is still clearly the leader of the team.
In the following days, Barcelona will face Osasuna to get closer to Atlético Madrid, and then they'll face PSG for the second leg of the UCL R16 in Paris. But until then, see you in the next blog.
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