Two years later, history repeated itself. The Barça He fell back removed from the Copa del Rey to a single match in San Mames. That February 6, 2020, already in the quarterfinals, Athletic, coached by Garitano, beat the Barça team (1-0) due to a goal from Sergio Busquets in his own goal, and left him out of the KO competition in the edition in which the new format was released with all the single-match qualifiers except for the semifinals. Yesterday, the azulgrana said goodbye to the Cup after forcing Pedri the extra time, where a penalty at the hands of Jordi Alba, transformed by Muniain, ended up sentenced to those of Xavi Hernández (3-2).
Ter Stegen, Piqué, Jordi Alba and Busquets, already present in that elimination with Quique Setién on the bench, they repeated ownership this Thursday in San Mamés, which was not filled as on that occasion due to capacity restrictions, but which once again celebrated a victory to the face or cross in this duel between the ‘Kings of the Cup’. Regarding that 2019 duel they also played this Thursday Frenkie de Jong and Ansu Fati, who came out in the second half, although the youth squad ended up injured.
This time the VAR intervened
Martínez Munuera was the protagonist two years ago not pointing out a resounding penalty on Frenkie de Jong who did not appreciate the VAR either and this time Munuera Montero he did call a maximum penalty committed by Jordi Alba, after rejecting a ball with his elbow. This time the VAR intervened, where González González was. The one from l’Hospitalet, with a performance to forget, was throwing himself to the ground to cover a cross and ended up touching the ball with his elbow. Unintentionally but clearly.
Just one win in the last six visits
With yesterday’s defeat, Barça only adds a victory in the last six visits to San Mamés. tied this season (1-1) with a goal from Memphis in the first displacement of the course and won last year in LaLiga (2-3) with a goal from Pedri and a brace from Messi. In the previous three visits, in addition to the 1-0 in the Cup, lost in LaLiga the 2019/20 season (1-0) with a goal from Aduriz in minute 89 and tied (0-0) also in the League in the 2018/19 academic year.
Champions and Europa League positions
With this goodbye in the Copa del Rey, LaLiga almost impossible now 17 points behind the leader, the real Madrid, with one more game for the whites, and after the missed opportunity last week in Saudi Arabia in the Spanish Super Cup, Barça now only has the Europa League as the only possible title to win this season. Next Thursday, February 17 at the Camp Nou (6:45 p.m.) they will face Naples in the first leg of the playoff prior to the round of 16 and a week later, on the 24th, the match will be played at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. The other objective, a priority, will be to finish the championship by qualifying among the top four to ensure play the Champions League next year.
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