International

Barcelona advanced to the RO16 after a 7-goal thriller against Inter City

Sujal Kothari

Published on January 5, 2023

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Key takeaways:

Ansu Fati netted the winner in the 103rd minute for Barcelona.
Barcelona survived a shock in the Copa del Rey as Ansu Fati scored extra-time to seal the win against the Spanish third-tier Intercity.

Barcelona safely passed to the Copa del Rey Round of 16. Still, it was challenging, as the Blaugrana required 120 minutes of action to beat Third Division Intercity 4-3 in extra time in a wild match in the city of Alicante.

Blaugrana netted early but never put the match away and let their visitors come back before Ansu Fati scored the victor in extra time to give his squad a place in the next round of the Spanish Cup.

FIRST HALF

Barça did the one thing clubs should do in matches against lower-level squads that want to put every player in the defence and cause an upset: score early. Ronald Araujo required just four minutes to net on his return, heading home a corner from Pablo Torre to provide the Blaugrana with the early lead.

SECOND HALF

The hosts earned a goal, and they got it when a corner into the box wasn’t cleared by the Barça centre-backs and fell to ex Barça academy player Oriol Soldevila who scored an excellent volley to make it 1-1 with 30 minutes to go.

Barça required a big wake-up call to get back in possession of the match, and they stepped up the pace enough to go on again after a lovely assist from Gavi and an excellent finish from Ousmane Dembélé who chipped the goalie to put the Blaugrana in front.

Then, later on, Inter City again equalised, and it was none other than Soldevila Puig. After that, Raphinha converted a perfect cross to Jordi Alba.

Soldevila Puig again crushed Barca’s dream to advance to the RO16 and made it 3-3.

EXTRA TIME

Barça conquered the first half of extra time and was very much on top of proceedings, shooting with a bunch of bodies and trying to find gaps inside a packed defence.

It took them nearly 15 minutes, but they eventually found the go-ahead goal when an excellent cross from Raphinha along the ground was struck home by Ansu Fati, who made it 4-3 and gave Barça a vital lead to defend in the last 15 minutes.