Barcelona’s hopes of winning the Copa del Rey this season were on Wednesday left hanging by a thread after Sevilla won the first leg of their semi-final 2-0.
Jules Kounde furthered his growing reputation as one of the world’s most exciting central defenders by scoring a stunning goal at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, before Ivan Rakitic came back to haunt his former club by adding a second late on.
Kounde dribbled past three Barca defenders and shot into the corner of the net, while Rakitic’s strike turned a setback for Ronald Koeman’s side into what looks like a formidable challenge to make the final.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The winner is to meet either Athletic Bilbao or Levante UD, who were due to play the first leg of their semi-final yesterday.
“The result is a bit unfair, the reward feels too much for them,” Koeman said. “The return will be complicated at 2-0, but we have had chances and we have to keep going. At home, this team is capable of anything.”
Koeman had described the Copa as Barcelona’s “shortest route” to a trophy this season and the sight of Kounde ghosting through his defense hardly inspires confidence ahead of next week’s meeting with Paris Saint-Germain.
Barca face PSG at the Camp Nou in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie on Tuesday.
Yet all is not lost. Although Koeman fielded his best available XI, after resting players against Real Betis Balompie in La Liga at the weekend, he will also hope to have injured defenders available again for the return game at the Camp Nou on March 3.
With Ronald Araujo and Gerard Pique out, Koeman played a patched-up back four of Jordi Alba at leftback, the left-footed Junior Firpo at rightback, and rightback Oscar Mingueza at centerback alongside Samuel Umtiti, who is still regaining sharpness after a string of injuries.
“We are halfway through the tie with the hardest half to come,” Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui said.
Lionel Messi was quiet, but forced a decent save from Bono early on after a superb pass by Antoine Griezmann, with Sevilla the better side in the first half and deserving their goal.
Kounde carried the ball out from deep in his own half and bounced the ball off Suso before advancing into Barcelona’s defensive third.
He ghosted past Griezmann, darted inside Sergio Busquets and, with Alba dragged left, nicked it around the legs of Umtiti before driving into the far corner to complete a stunning individual effort.
Barca had Marc-Andre ter Stegen to thank for denying Sergio Escudero a second, but neither side looked keen to risk conceding by pushing too hard for a goal after halftime.
Yet Sevilla were gifted one with five minutes left when an Oliver Torres ball over the top freed Rakitic, who had options inside, but went alone, blasting into the roof of the net and refusing to celebrate, despite putting Sevilla in sight of the final.
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