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Dest starts as Barcelona advances to Copa Del Rey Final

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Barcelona had it all to do in Wednesday’s Copa Del Rey semifinal second leg at the Camp Nou and the Catalan club used a pair of late goals to book its place in the Copa Del Rey Final.

Sergino Dest started and played 63 minutes as Barcelona overcame a two-goal aggregate deficit to outlast Sevilla 3-0 on Wednesday. Ronald Koeman’s club advanced by a 3-2 aggregate scoreline, with Gerard Pique scoring a last-minute equalizer in regulation before Martin Braithwaite delivered the winning goal in overtime.

Ousmane Dembele’s 12th-minute finish gave Barcelona a lifeline, cutting the series deficit to one. The Frenchman received a pass from Lionel Messi before cutting inside of the box and rifling a shot into the top-right corner.

Dest left the match in the 63rd minute, making way for Antoine Griezmann as Barcelona chased a series equalizer. Sevilla could essentially clinched the victory with a second-half penalty kick, but Marc Andre ter Stegen saved Lucas Ocampos’ 73rd-minute penalty attempt.

Pique forced extra time in the 94th minute when he headed home a cross from Antoine Griezmann. Barcelona swung the tie in its favor for good in overtime when Braithwaite finished from close range in the fifth minute of the first extra time period.

The Catalan club hung on to advance to the Copa Del Rey Final for the seventh time in the past eight seasons.

Dest completed 37 of his 40 passing attempts in the game, while also winning six of his 12 duels. The U.S. Men’s National Team defender also made two recoveries before being substituted after the hour mark.

Barcelona will face either Levante or Athletic Bilbao in the Final of the competition, which is slated to take place on April 17th at the Estadio de la Cartuja.

Comments

  1. I didn’t see the first 20 minutes or so, but Dest wasn’t having his best outing and lost a lot of 1-on-1s. I think the substitution had a tactical component, but I wasn’t surprised he was the first man off. He still has some growing to do and it’s great that he’s playing at such a high level.

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    • I did watch Dest’s entire 63 minutes in the match, and I thought he did okay showing off good touches dribbling inside whenever Messi wasn’t in the vicinity to receive his passes. Of course by the manager’s instructions, Dest’s #1 priority is always to shuttle the ball to Messi.

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