Welcome back to TalkBarca. Our topic for today is the Match Review of FC Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao. The boys went away to the Estadio Olimpico de la Cartuja to play the final of the Copa Del Rey. The wounds created from the defeat against Real Madrid were still fresh. However, Ronald Koemann and his men did not let the previous defeat get to their heads and ended up delivering one of the best performances of the season.
FC Barcelona lifted their first trophy of the season after beating Athletic Bilbao by 4 goals to none. It was a great day for the club and the fans.
Here are all the details that you need to know.
FC BARCELONA VS ATHLETIC BILBAO MATCH REVIEW
FIRST HALF
FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao have a history of playing Spanish Cup Finals before. However, FC Barcelona took this one way too seriously. The boys were in the right frame of mind since the first minute. Not only they kept more than 80% ball possession but also troubled the Athletic defense a lot. Athletic had no other choice other than to sit back and defend. FC Barcelona despite having a lot of the ball could not find ways to make it to the back of the net.
The boys created many chances but kept failing to convert them. Lionel Messi, Frenkie De Jong, and Sergio Busquets had their chances but failed to convert them. Overall, it was an amazing first-half display from the Blaugranas. The only bad thing about their performance was that there were no goals scored when they could have scored at least 3. However, the way the entire team was rotating the ball and the confidence they had sent out a message that there was more to come.
The first half ended with both team’s level. Ronald Koemann went inside the team inside the tunnel for half time talk.
FIRST HALF: FC BARCELONA 0-0 ATHLETIC BILBAO
SECOND HALF
The only problem in the FC Barcelona gameplay from the first half was lack of finishing. The boys made sure that they overcome this issue in the second half. The entire Blaugrana team began the second half of the game with high energy levels, winning the ball higher up on the pitch and maintaining heavy possession.
The game was over for Bilbao already. FC Barcelona seemed way too dominant over Marcelino’s men. Barca got its first goal at the 59th minute. It was Antoine Griezmann who opened the scoring for FC Barcelona. He was set up by Frenkie De Jong. Minutes later, De Jong registered his name on the goal-scoring list as well as he finished a pinpoint cross from Jordi Alba. De Jong proved that he is a complete midfielder and one of the best in the game at the moment. FC Barcelona with 2 goals had all the confidence to make Athletic Bilbao suffer. Marcelino’s men seemed flat-footed and had no idea how to play against this FC Barcelona unit.
FC Barcelona scored their third goal of the game, and probably one of the most beautiful goals of the season at the 68th minute. It was none other than Lionel Messi to score that goal after playing a one-two pass with Frenkie De Jong. Messi dribbled past 2 players and easily passed the ball to the far post. 3 goals for FC Barcelona and it was already curtains for Athletic Bilbao.
There was no way Athletic was coming back from the three-goal deficit created by FC Barcelona. However, Koemann’s team wanted more. They wanted to get more out of this game. They kept pushing and kept trying to find yet another goal, and finally got what they wanted at the 71st minute of the game, and it was again Lionel Messi to convert the chance.
FULL TIME: FC BARCELONA 4-0 ATHLETIC BILBAO
It was an amazing night for the Blaugranas. Its been a long since we have seen this kind of happiness and excitement at Camp Nou. The young players took pictures with Lionel Messi and the CDR trophy. It was an amazing sight to see. This is the kind of moment the fans have been dying to see.
All eyes on the La Liga title now.
