Alavés will be Barcelona’s opponents in this year’s Spanish cup final after they beat Celta 1-0 in their second leg tie! The Vitoria based side were only promoted from the second division last summer, and their only final appearance was in that classic extra time defeat against Liverpool in the 2001 UEFA Cup. The 0-0 draw from the first leg left the game in the balance, and once again chances were few and far between in the first half, the best an Ibai Gómez free kick which went just over the top, and a couple of efforts from Iago Aspas, the first saved by Pacheco, and the second a lob which dipped down over the crossbar. After the interval Sergio Alvarez had to keep out Camarasa, and Deyverson fired a shot over the top when free on goal. But with extra time looming substitute Edgar picked up a headed pass from Camarasa to run on and clip a shot past Alvarez, and Pellegrino’s team were through to their first ever Copa del Rey final. (08.02.17)
Barcelona are in to their fourth Spanish cup final in a row after a 3-2 aggregate win against Atlético Madrid! It was a tense match though with red cards for Sergi Roberto, Carrasco and Luis Suárez, the two Barça players therefore banned for the final. After the 1-2 defeat in the first leg, Simeone’s side needed to score, and only a couple of good saves by Cillessen prevented Carrasco and Savic from finding the net early on. Messi brought a good stop out of Moyà though later on in the first half, and with half time approaching the visiting keeper could only push out another shot from Messi, and Luis Suárez was on hand to poke in the rebound. Simeone lost Gaitán and Godín to injuries soon after the restart, and a few minutes later Griezmann got the ball in the net only to be pulled up for a non-existent offside. Messi rattled the bar with a long free kick, but with ten minutes to Gameiro had a chance to make it all square on the night when he was brought down by Piqué in the area. The French striker fired the spot kick over the bar however, and although he did score after Griezmann set him up three minutes later, the Catalans held on with nine men to make it through. (07.02.17)