There’s another battle left in Barcelona.
With 2-0 behind Sevilla penetrating the home side of the Copa del Rey semi-finals, Barcelona forced extra time through Gerard Pique’s goal at death and then won it on the header of Martin Braithwaite in extra time to reach the final haal. Levante or Athletic Bilbao will be the opponent. They play the second inning of their semifinal round on Thursday, with a 1-1 draw.
Ousmane Dembele started the return early with a sensational goal, pushing a right-footed explosion from outside the box into the top left corner to reduce Sevilla’s overall lead to 2-1.
Barcelona equalized almost sensationally through Jordi Alba, whose karate-like volley swung from the crossbar.
Sevilla missed his chance to put the tie in bed when Lucas Ocampos saved his penalty kick by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and with Sevilla reduced to 10 men after Fernando’s second yellow card, Pique took the man of the moment deep into stopped when he pushed Antoine Griezmann’s cross. That made the score 2-2 overall, with Barcelona equalizing Sevilla’s 2-0 win in the first leg, on the strength of goals from Jules Kounde and former Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic.
It didn’t take long for Barcelona to continue, with Braithwaite’s header from Jordi Alba’s help securing the advantage five minutes into extra time. Before the break between the extra sessions of 15 minutes, Luuk de Jong saw red and reduced Sevilla to just nine men.
It was a competition of comebacks and drama for Barcelona, who needed extra time to get through the third level Cornellà in the round of 32. Dembele and Braithwaite scored the goals after the parties through regulation with 0-0 played a draw.
A return was needed in the last 16 against Rayo Vallecano, who took a 1-0 lead until Lionel Messi passed in the 69th minute and Frenkie de Jong followed in the 80th.
The most striking of the group came in the quarterfinals, with Barcelona trailing 2-0 behind Granada in the 88th minute. Griezmann and Jordi Alba passed four minutes apart, although Barça forced extra time with the latter’s stoppage saly. Griezmann extended Barcelona in extra time before Granada equalized with a penalty kick, but de Jong and Jordi Alba took on the match winners to keep Barcelona alive.
The club will hope to continue its comeback series in the Champions League round of 16 next week, when it travels to Paris to stem a 4-1 deficit against PSG in their second game.