Suárez nets brace as Barcelona sail through to the Copa del Rey final
Suárez turns up under pressure yet again to carry Barcelona into the final
Luis Suárez proved yet again that he thrives under pressure, as he scored a brace and led Barcelona into the final of the Copa del Rey. After a first leg of the semi-final ended in a 1-1 draw, Ernesto Valverde’s men secured a 3-0 win at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Just like the first leg, Real Madrid came out with all guns blazing. Barça failed to reply in kind in the early stages of the game, failing to get even a single shot on target in the entire first-half despite having significantly more possession of the ball.
But Barça did take the lead shortly after the beginning of the second-half, with Luis Suárez scoring for the second consecutive game after a long time. His finish at the far post was characteristically clinical, and Ousmane Dembélé got himself an assist.
A few minutes later, Sergio Reguilón’s header was brilliantly saved by Marc-André ter Stegen. It was his second save of the match, after he was called upon to deny Vinícius Júnior earlier. The young Brazilian forward had another opportunity, but it was deflected past the post.
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But from then on, it all went downhill for Real Madrid. Semedo put through Ousmane Dembélé on the right and the Frenchman put it into the box. Suárez got to it but it was deflected off Raphaël Varane and into the back of the net.
Just after the extension of the lead, Suárez earned a penalty for Barça after drawing a foul from Casemiro in the box following being released down the left by Jordi Alba. He converted the penalty with style, as he used the ‘panenka’ technique to complete his brace.
After gaining the 4-1 lead on aggregate, Barça parked the bus and the best performers, Suárez and Dembélé, were taken off for Arturo Vidal and Philippe Coutinho. The team managed to hold off till the end of the game, and secured a place in the Copa del Rey final.
Ernesto Valverde made some tough calls while selecting the starting lineup. Sergi Roberto surprisingly found himself in midfield, while the Basque coach deciding against fielding Arturo Vidal or the returning Arthur. But both midfielders came off the bench.
Lionel Messi was surprisingly quiet, but Luis Suárez made up for it with one of his best performance of the season. Ousmane Dembélé was also very good, along with Ivan Rakitić. Sergio Busquets and Nélson Semedo could have done better.
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Vinícius was absolutely amazing down the left flank, and Karim Benzema also looked dangerous in the first-half. But nevertheless, this 3-0 result will give Barça a huge amount of confidence going into the next game, against the same opposition at the same venue.