Griezmann Rescues Barca From Shock Cup Defeat
23 January, 2020
Copa Del Rey
Result: Ibiza 1-2 FC Barcelona
Date: 22 January 2020
Venue: Estadio Municipal de Can Misses
FC Barcelona avoided a major Copa del Rey upset as a late brace from Antoine Griezmann guided the side to victory over third tier outfit Ibiza FC.
Riqui Puig came in for his first start in an attacking compartment led by Antoine Griezmann and Carles Perez. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi along with Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique sat out.
The Catalans though fell behind on nine minutes when Ibiza relieved pressure from a free-kick to find Rai Nascimento who then collected a cut-back for Pep Caballe to side-foot home.
Ibiza had a second on 17 minutes when Rodado Jareno beat Clement Lenglet to a long ball to slide past Neto, but the referee ruled a foul on the French defender and disallowed the strike.
Barca remained on the edge though as Nascimento hit the foot of the post and Jareno hammering the rebound straight at Neto after the ball bounced back into play four minutes to halftime.
Barcelona looked for a determined start to the second half, but an awkward bounce in defence nearly let Ibiza to a second though Nascimento failed to capitalise.
Quique Setien, who made a winning start to life as Barca’s coach on Sunday against Granada, turned to the bench anid introduced Jordi Alba for Perez after 59 minutes.
Griezmann led from the front within 72 minutes and netted the equaliser from De Jong’s through pass, with the Frenchman doing well to stay onside for a left-foot finish past German Parreno.
Ibiza's luck ran out as Griezmann grabbed a brace in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time after racing through Alba’s pass before firing beyond Parreno in added time to send Barca to the next round.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za