Albacete 1-2 Barcelona, Copa del Rey: Recap

Barcelona are through to the semi-finals of this season’s Copa del Rey thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win away to second tier Albacete on Tuesday night’s quarter-final. The Blaugrana were the better team and should have won a lot more easily, but they had to survive some late drama to secure the win and book a spot in the Spanish Cup’s Final Four.

Reactions & Observations

• Barça played a pretty solid first half, dominating the ball and not allowing Albacete any real joy on the counter as the home team had a couple of promising moments but never came close to truly creating danger for the Blaugrana.
• The Catalans should have scored in the first 10 minutes when Marcus Rashford missed two massive chances one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but the Blaugrana had to wait over a half-hour to take the lead thanks to an assist by Frenkie de Jong and a gorgeous finish by Lamine Yamal.
• Barça had a one-goal lead at the break and the score was a fair reflection of what we saw on the pitch, and the visitors needed to step up their intensity enough to score one or two more goals to finish the tie in the second half.
• Hansi Flick made a sensible substitution at halftime, replacing João Cancelo, who was on a yellow, with Pau Cubarsí. Barça continued to control the game and doubled the lead before the hour mark as Ronald Araujo headed home a corner from Rashford and gave his coach a big hug in a lovely moment for the Uruguayan.
• The rest of the game was a tale of transitions and missed chances as Barça wasted a few really good opportunities inside the box while Jefté Betancor, the hero against Real Madrid in the last round, missed two giant chances to bring the home team back in the contest.
• Albacete had nothing to lose and launched a late assault in the final 10 minutes and Javi Moreno scored a header from a wide-free kick to suddenly create some drama late in the second half, and the hosts received an extra boost when Ferran Torres had a goal disallowed for offside that would have killed off the tie.
• The home team had a huge chance in stoppage time and Gerard Martín had to make a crucial goal-line clearance to stop the equalizer, and that turned out to be their best chance as the final whistle came to send Barça to the semis.
• The end of the game was a little too dramatic and Barça should have never been in that position given the quality of their chances in the second half, but the job is done at the end and they’ve avoided the upset.