Barcelona won the Copa del Rey 2020/2021 after defeating Athletic Bilbao 4-0 at the La Cartuja Stadium, Sevilla, Sunday (18/4).
This is Ronald Koeman’s first trophy in his first season coaching Barcelona. Even though he went through the club’s internal drama, the Dutchman managed to prove his quality.
Barcelona appeared with a 3-4-1-2 pattern concocted by Ronald Koeman. The Dutch coach has been trying out the formation of two attackers in the last few matches. Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi were installed as a front line duo.
The formation proved to be efficient even though it was not yet effective in producing a score. There were at least eight kicks towards Bilbao’s goal during the first 45 minutes.
Lionel Messi and his friends forced Bilbao to be busy defending after referee Juan Martinez blew the kick off whistle.
The Barcelona siege resulted in a series of opportunities. The first came in the fifth minute when Frenkie De Jong hit the post. Six minutes later, Messi and Antoine Griezmann’s collaboration also almost changed the score.
Meanwhile Bilbao tried to take advantage of set pieces to look for opportunities to break into Barcelona’s goal in the 12th minute.
Barcelona’s possession of the ball reaches 80 percent, but the Blaugrana cannot score. Poor finishing and Unai Simon’s brilliant performance between Bilbao rulers were the main factors.
In the second half Barcelona kicked off again. Griezmann’s opportunity in the 48th minute was still unable to break into Bilbao’s goal. Likewise with Sergio Busquets chance five minutes later.
The match entered an hour’s duration, Barcelona again created opportunities. This time De Jong’s bait was not wasted by Griezmann who grabbed the ball from close range. Barcelona lead 1-0.
Three minutes later after setting up an assist, De Jong then scored with a header after receiving Messi’s pass.
In the 68th minute, there was a goal process which was the opposite of the second goal. This time it was De Jong’s turn to feed Messi to score Barcelona’s third goal.
The score changed again four minutes later. Messi received feedback from Jordi Alba before making it 4-0.
Bilbao who played openly made it easy for Barcelona to penetrate their defense so that four goals came in 12 minutes.
The 4-0 score lasted until the game ended and Barcelona won the 31st Copa del Rey in history.
