Copa del Rey Domestic Round-up

Today marked the end of the second leg of the Copa del Rey, otherwise known as “The King’s Cup”. It was quite the eventful day which saw Barça just advance after a nervy match in Palma against Mallorca and Sevilla getting hammered in Bilbao by Athletic Club.

Barcelona had a 2 goal lead from the first leg in the Nou Camp and took that to Palma de Mallorca when they took on the islanders in the Ono Estadi.

Once on the island though, Barcelona looked less than convincing and actually conceded first when Castro hit an absolutely unstoppable shot from outside the box beating Pinto and putting Mallorca up 1-0 before the half.

The islanders strength didn’t weaken after the half as Uruguayan International Martin Cacares took down the goal scorer, Castro inside the box which resulted in a straight red and a penalty for the home side. Up stepped Martí to take the spot kick and he blasted it straight down the centre only for Pinto to stop it with his trailing legs. So what would have put Mallorca in the driving seat actually ended up being the turning point in the match.

Although the penalty save didn’t really shift the momentum in Barcelona’s favour, what it did is allow them to certainly build a bit of confidence until they finally introduced their hero Lionel Messi. The Argentine International sensation had an instant impact on the match as he made one of his ever-so-dangerous runs into the box and as a result was fouled by Josemi on the edge. The Mallorca man received his second yellow which leveled the playing field and this was the turning point for the Blaugrana. With 10 minutes from time, Messi chipped a shot past Mallorca keeper German Lux to seal make the aggregate 3-1 for the Catalan’s.

The 1-1 draw in Palma de Mallorca was enough to put Barcelona through and despite a less than a convincing performance they are now in the finals.

In the first Copa match of last evening, Sevilla traveled to Bilbao to take on Athletic Club. Despite defeating them on the weekend, Sevilla couldn’t even touch a perseverant Athletic side who clearly wanted it more than the Andalucíans.

The Basque side’s support was fantastic throughout the match and their fortress of San Mamés was absolutely explosive. The solid support combined with some abysmal defending by the visitors was more than enough to put the Lions through.

There was much hype surrounding this game as Brazilian International striker Luis Fabiano returned for the Rojiblancos while Fernando Llorente did the same for the home side.

Athletic came out flying and Sevilla came out flat as the Basque side took an easy 3-0 first half lead with goals coming from Javi Martinez, Fernando Llorente and Gaizka Toquero.

In the second half the momentum shifted as Manolo Jiménez introduced some more attacking minded players for the away side and as a result they started to dominate possession. Possession is only good if you get something out of it and because no dangerous chances were created, no goals were scored ending the match at 3-0 in favour of the home side.

This now means that the two winningest teams of this tournament will face off in a final which is sure to be anything but boring. Both Athletic Club and Barcelona have won 24 Copa del Rey’s in their history and will be looking to go one up on the other this year. I personally cannot wait for this match and thing it’ll be an amazing display of football. Athletic have made it clear they are no joke and definitely a team to be reckoned with but Barcelona surely is going to re-find their stunning form from earlier this season so who is going to win is way beyond me.