Barcelona Won Wild Quarterfinal in Extra Time

Barcelona team is somehow, someway, through to the Copa del Rey semi-finals thanks to an absolutely wild 5-3 win in extra time against Granada. Barça dominated almost the entire match, created huge chances but were down 2-0 until the 88th minute, and then Antoine Griezmann and Jordi Alba led a historical comeback to send Barça to the Spanish Cup Final Four.

FIRST HALF

Barça were the better team in the first half, attacking from the start with purpose and creativity and having very few issues finding spaces inside a poor Granada defense. The Blaugrana dominated at times and fired loads of shots, but they lacked the cutting edge in front of goal and always missed the final ball to create a truly big chance.

Still, it was the visiting team that looked most likely to score and Lionel Messi was hungry to find the net, but the Catalans couldn’t find a way to score and paid for it: after a moment of confusion at the back Barça simply failed to clear the ball away, and Soro found himself in space inside the box and crossed it to Kenedy at the far post for a tap-in and Granada’s opening goal.

At halftime, Barça deserved the lead but were somehow behind, and they needed to be more efficient in the final third to find the back of the net and make a second half comeback.

SECOND HALF

Granada started the second half by scoring. Soldado found himself one on one with Marc-André ter Stegen and doubled the hosts’ lead, and the Andalusians looked set to move on. But Barça never stopped attacking, and they hit the woodwork three times in the second half, once with Francisco Trincão, once with Antoine Griezmann and once with Lionel Messi.

As we reached the final three minutes, the game was all but over. And then, the comeback: Griezmann scored the first after a cross from Messi, and from another pass from the captain Griezmann gave Jordi Alba an assist and the full-back headed home the equalizer, sending the game to extra time.

EXTRA TIME

The extra 30 minutes were just WILD. Barça scored first with another goal by Griezmann, this time on a header after a cross from Alba. Then Granada won a penalty and equalized again just three minutes later through Fede Vico, and as the teams switched sides after the first overtime period the game was 3-3 and wide open.

But Barça dominated the final 15 minutes and finally found a way to kill off Granada: first it was Frenkie De Jong, then Alba scored a spectacular volley to make it 5-3 and give Barça the win as the final whistle came to end an insane match.

It’s hard to wrap your head around all the craziness, and Barça really pulled off a miracle here. Amazing.