Football Special Report: Barcelona - Six years of winning starts in the Copa del Rey (Part 2)
When Benidorm came to the Nou Camp during the return leg, the match was simply not decided until the 86th minute and it was the Argentinean magician Lionel Messi who scored a late goal to help his team win the game as the home side won it 1-0.
Later that season, Barcelona won their 25th Copa del Rey in the history of Spanish football as they defeated their opponents Atletic Bilbao 4-1 in the final match.
Last year, Josep Pep Guardiola took charge and played the perfect men to help his team win the game. When the team had to travel to Cultural Leonesa to play at their home ground Reino de Leon, the Catalan giants played an experimental formation and it was
Pedro Rodriguez who scored two goals to help the Spanish Champions win it 0-2 away from home. In the return leg, the Division 2B team had to travel visit the Nou Camp as the Catalan giants were ready to entertain them at their home ground. The match was won
5-0 by the home side as the game was totally dominated by the Blaugrana wearing side.
This year Barcelona had to travel to the North of Africa to play against a Division 2B side named Ceuta. The Catalan boss, Josep Pep Guardiola knew exactly who to play during the match and even though most of the players were resting against Ceuta, the Spanish
Champions emerged victorious that night. The Brazilian left back Maxwell scored the first goal of the match followed by Pedro Rodriguez, who sealed the deal for his side as the visitors walked out of the arena with a 0-2 win.
Guardiola made a clever move by not playing his favourite players during the match. This was not because the opponents were weak but because they were tired after the “over-burdened” schedule that they have had in the past few days. The Catalan giants have
to play 3 games in only 8 days. They have played one game already and they have defeated the Division 2B side Ceuta. Now they have to entertain Sevilla in the Nou Camp. Barcelona are lacking the same confidence at the home ground that they did last season
and during the Spanish La Liga, they haven’t won a single game at home yet and they are still waiting for it as the game against Mallorca was drawn. After facing Sevilla at the Nou Camp, the Spanish Champions have to face the Danish side FC Copenhagen and
all the stars will have to travel to all the way to Denmark to play a UEFA Champions League fixture during the midweek.
Barcelona have managed to win the first Cup game against all the six teams that they last faced. Can things turn a bit round this time round, well only time can tell. The players are tired but by the looks of it, Guardiola is going to play the young talented
players during the game against Ceuta when they are going to visit the Nou Camp in the return leg. Can Guardiola pull off another win? We can only wait and watch.
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