Athletic Bilbao vs. Barcelona: Winners and Losers from Copa del Rey
Barcelona made their way through to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night with a 3-1 win at home to Athletic Club, which gave the reigning holders a 5-2 win on aggregate.
A fast start from Athletic saw Inaki Williams race onto a through pass, round Marc-Andre ter Stegen and score the opener, and the Basque side had further chances to score through Javi Eraso and Aritz Aduriz but failed to take advantage. After half-time, Barcelona were more offensive in their play, and a smart move saw Lionel Messi square for Luis Suarez to equalise from close range. The home side simply grew in strength from that point, with Gerard Pique heading in and Neymar blasting a third late on.
Here are all our biggest winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Inaki Williams
1 of 5
Athletic began the match with Inaki Williams on the right side of their attack, and the young forward wasted no time in celebrating his new contract by netting the opening goal of the night.
His pace and diagonal runs had already given Barcelona's back line problems before he made his move from the halfway line for the opening goal, showing great composure as well as pace to escape the defence, round the keeper and score.
Athletic's main source of danger came from Williams throughout the night, and he showed just why they increased his release clause so significantly—and also gave an insight as to why he could be a future centre-forward rather than wide threat.
Loser: Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen
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Eyebrows were raised, and confidence was not inspired when Barcelona named their team and Jeremy Mathieu was set to feature at left-back, with Thomas Vermaelen playing centrally to his side.
The duo were badly off with their communication and timing in trying to track Inaki's runs through the centre off the flank. Both of them gave possession away cheaply, and neither looked dominant or comfortable on the ball.
That said, real questions must be asked of Marc Bartra, who can't get a game at all even after Vermaelen's inept display last time out against Malaga.
Winner: Luis Enrique
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Luis Enrique's hopes of eclipsing Pep Guardiola as Barcelona manager possibly rest on winning the treble twice in succession; he did it last year and has since added the European Super Cup and Club World Cup to the list of honours, and he looks in good shape in the Copa del Rey, too.
Athletic were never going to be an easy opponent over two legs, especially given their physicality and aggression, but Lucho's rotations have kept the team fresh enough to compete with that aspect of the game and sharp enough to keep scoring goals.
Having played Espanyol already in the Copa, Barcelona aren't doing things the easy way...but now with Atletico Madrid being knocked out and Real Madrid being thrown out, the route to silverware is very much open to the Catalan team once again.
Loser: Ernesto Valverde's Defensive Choices
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While Barcelona's left side of the defence didn't impress, the entire back four of Athletic had moments of poor decision-making, bad judgement in the timing of their challenges and rather suspect passing out of defence.
Ernesto Valverde has to shoulder plenty of the blame for that after opting to play Eneko Boveda at centre-back, with the likes of Mikel Rico, Mikel San Jose and Inigo Lekue also all involved. None really shone, Lekue and Boveda made plenty of errors individually, and even Aymeric Laporte was well below his best.
The less said about Mikel Balenziaga's performance, the better.
Winner: Sergi Roberto
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Sergi Roberto found himself back in more familiar territory this time out, starting in midfield for Barcleona—albeit on the left rather than the right in the centre.
He used his time on the pitch to enormous effect, impressing from around the 15th minute onward after Athletic's initial onslaught. It was Sergi who constantly found space between the Athletic midfield lines after that point to give Barcelona an out ball from defence and move through the gears into attack, and his passing was as on-point as ever.
That the equalising goal was a combination between two of the front three—Messi and Suarez—won't be a surprise, but it all began with an Andres Iniesta-esque lofted pass over the defence from Sergi Roberto. An excellent display as he bids to win a starting spot in what is now a very competitive area of the team.
