Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Barcelona: 5 Talking Points as wasteful Barca crash out tournament| Copa del Rey 2019-20
Barcelona were unceremoniously dumped out of the Copa del Rey, with Athletic Bilbao posting a 1-0 victory over them at the Estadio San Mames.
Both teams are the two most successful sides in Copa del Rey history, with Athletic Bilbao's 23 triumphs second only to the 24 managed by Barcelona and given the intense rivalry between the two sides, it came as no surprise that the game was played at a high intensity throughout.
No fewer than five yellow cards were issued in the first half alone, with referee Juan Martinez struggling to keep control of the game. Nelson Semedo, Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, and even coach Quique Setien were all issued warnings in the first half, while Yeray Alvarez also saw yellow for the home side.
For all of the physicality deployed in the game, the match was painfully devoid of real quality which was a shame considering the abundance of attacking talent on display and just when it seemed like we would need extra time to settle the contest, Inaki Williams was on hand to head home a cross by Ibai Gomez to send the Basque outfit into the semifinal.
Barcelona would now turn their attention to their league clash with Real Betis this weekend, while Bilbao would square off with Real Sociedad in the Basque derby.
In this piece, we shall be highlighting five talking points from the Copa del Rey clash at San Mames.
#5 Lightning strikes twice for Barcelona
Barcelona begun their LaLiga title defence with a Friday night clash against Athletic Bilbao on matchday one and despite going into the match without the services of captain Lionel Messi, the game saw summer signing Antoine Griezmann make his debut and the Blaugrana were expected to triumph in the fixture.
Further tragedy came as Luis Suarez limped out of the fixture and the visitors struggled to create much in the game.
It was a similar situation last night at San Mames, with Barcelona lacking in their usual creativity and in further identical scenes to that August night, they came undone with a last-gasp winner for the home side.
On that occasion, Aritz Aduriz came off the bench to put them to the sword with an exquisite bicycle kick, while Inaki Williams was the protagonist on this occasion with a well-taken headed goal in injury time.