Crazy evening in Granada on Wednesday evening in the Copa del Rey quarter-final. FC Barcelona went through all the emotions but ended up qualifying for the semi-finals of the Spanish Cup after a meeting rich in twists and turns. Led 2-0, the Catalans finally won 3-5 at the end of extra time.
Great dominators of the meeting, the Catalans have long had to struggle with bad luck – with three strikes on the post – and with the porter of Granada Aaron Escandell, in a state of grace and capable of repelling the many Catalan attempts.
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Cynical before and after half time with goals from Kenedy (33rd) and Roberto Soldado (47th), Granada came very close to qualifying. But a persevering Barca couldn’t be eliminated in this way. The genius of Lionel Messi thus put his people back on the right track in extremis with two magic passes which allowed Antoine Griezmann to reduce the gap (88th) then to offer the ball of the equalizer to Jordi Alba (90e+2).
It must be said that with more than 30 strikes on goal and nearly 80% of possession of the ball before even starting extra time, Barça would not have deserved such a cruel elimination.
In overtime, the team of Ronald Koeman took the necessary steps to qualify despite new fears. Antoine Griezmann gave the advantage to his team in the 100th minute but Granada incredibly came back into the game by converting a penalty to tie at 3-3 via Wedding ring (103e).
Barça then believed itself cursed in this meeting but had the character to react to this new twist. In the second half of extra time, Frenkie De Jong (108th) and Jordi Alba (113th) with a superb volley gave the semi-final to their team to complete a memorable evening.
