Barcelona gave it everything that they had at the Camp Nou, but despite winning 3-0 in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals, their journey is over after losing 4-3 on aggregate to Atletico Madrid. Being dominated in the first leg of the cup match 4-0, it would’ve been unlikely for Barcelona to overturn their deficit, but it will at least be a positive sign for Hansi Flick that his team had enough fight to make this a game after Marc Bernal and Raphinha scored in the first half of play before Bernal added another goal late to up the pressure.
After taking 21 shots and controlling 71% of possession, Barcelona ran out of steam to complete their comeback late in the match. For Atletico Madrid, it’s their first appearance in the Copa Del Rey final since 2013 when they defeated rivals Real Madrid in extra time. During what has been a season where they’ve performed under expectations, the Copa Del Rey can offer something for Diego Simeone to use to turn things around.
Both clubs have made it to the last 16 of the Champions League, where they’ll face Premier League clubs. Atletico Madrid were drawn against Tottenham, while Barcelona will face Newcastle United. After making it to the semifinals of Champions League play last season, where they fell to Inter on a wild 7-6 aggregate journey, Barcelona will look to win the entire tournament this season, but they’ll need more performances like the second leg than the first one.
Via Anthony Gordon, the Magpies are a team who have had no issues scoring goals in Champions League play, and they’ll be able to give Barcelona trouble, especially if defender Jules Kounde has a serious injury. Withdrawn only 13 minutes into the match with a non-contact injury, this is something that will need to be evaluated, but it could be a concern for Flick in what is a growing injury list for Barcelona. Frenkie de Jong and Robert Lewandowski both missed this match with injuries, and each will be critical in Champions League play, which will be here in only a week, and you can watch it live on Paramount+.
Between that, Barcelona won’t be able to look past a LaLiga match where they’ll travel away to face Athletic Club on Saturday. With Real Madrid losing to Getafe, Barcelona have opened a four-point lead atop LaLiga, but looking past a match with an Athletic Club side looking to move up the table could quickly lead to the lead shrinking. Flick has the tough job of rotating while also keeping focus on that, or Barcelona could run into a situation where their starters are out of steam for the first leg against Newcastle United. It’s a fine balance, but when you get to this stage of the season, teams around the world are dealing with issues; it’s all about how they can work around them to keep the victories coming.