XxBarça is now in the Cup semi-finals for another year. The team led by Hansi Flick beat Albacete at the Carlos … Belmonte 1-2 in a tight match for the Blaugrana in which they were able to assert their quality in the last few meters, but in which they ended up suffering from the push of a rival who never gave up. The goals from Lamine Yamal and Araujo were enough to make Javi Moreno’s goal in the final stretch an anecdote, ‘avenge’ Real Madrid’s elimination and put the culés just one step away from fighting for the cup title.
And the game started out as a mousetrap for Barça. Carlos Belmonte had reasons to believe in the feat after leaving Real Madrid in the gutter and prepared an ideal atmosphere so that the culés would at least have doubts. That first step was taken by Albacete in a few initial moments in which they pressed on the marks, gave up meters to reduce spaces and were very aggressive after the recovery. Thus, they surprised with two arrivals in which Joan García had to appear, more demanding than Flick would have liked when he designed the match in his notebook.
The German coach knew of the dangers of Albacete and prepared rotations, yes, but just the right ones. He brought on Araujo at the back, Cancelo on the side and Bernal as a pivot, but all of them were surrounded by regular players in the rotation and by frontrunners like Eric García or Lamine Yamal. The result, however, was not what was expected. Barça was thick in the first half. He did not find fluidity through Marc Bernal, who had a hard time turning the game, and the Barça wingers were diluted before the 5-3-2 of an Albacete that based all its efforts on defensive aid that worked like clockwork and that left the culés without a single shot between the sticks until the 38th minute. It was then when the locals’ error appeared after a loss and the enormous talent of Lamine Yamal. The 10 needed very little and hit an unappealable left foot with the first touch to remind Carlos Belmonte that in front of him was nothing more and nothing less than the Cup champion.
Albacete
Lizoain, Lorenzo (Gámez, min. 73), Javi Moreno, Neva (Jesús Vallejo, min. 31), Bernabéu (Jogo, min. 60), Agus Medina, Javi Villar, Capi (Lazo, min. 73), Meléndez (Jefté, min. 61), Pacheco and Puertas.
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Barcelona
Joan García, Cancelo (Cubarsí, min. 46), Eric García, Araujo (Koundé, min. 78), Gerard Martín, Bernal (Casadó, min. 66), Frenkie de Jong, Olmo, Lamine Yamal, Rashford (Fermín, min. 66) and Lewandowski (Ferran, min. 66)
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Goals:
0-1: min. 39, Lamine Yamal. 0-2: min. 56, Araujo. 1-2: min. 87, Javi Moreno. -
Arbitrator:
JoséLuis Munuera. He admonished Cancelo and Bernabéu. -
Incidents:
Match played at the Carlos Belmonte before 16,745 spectators.
After the restart, Flick brought on Cubarsí for Cancelo, who was booked, and Barça went up another gear with the aim of closing the match as soon as possible. The ball circulated at a higher speed and that allowed Albacete to get disorganized and one-on-one situations to appear. In one of them the culés generated a corner kick and Araujo emerged in one of his specialties to head the second goal and give a little more air to a Barça that scored two goals in its first two shots between the sticks.
The goal represented a radical change of scene. Albacete was forced to risk a little more and spaces emerged for both teams that led to an exchange of blows in which both were able to score. Jefté missed two clear chances and Lewandowski missed another before Flick moved the bench. Fermín, Casadó and Ferran Torres came on and Barça moved towards the last few minutes of the match in which they lowered the intensity and gave wings to a rival who never gave up, who was just one goal behind after a header from Javi Moreno and who had a resounding chance in stoppage time that Gerard Martín cleared between the sticks. The culés saved the furniture and are now in the semi-finals for another year and just one step away from fighting for the cup title.
