‘This is unacceptable for a club like Barcelona’

Friday, January 22, 2021 at 7:33 AM• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk • Last update: 07:42

Barcelona qualified late on Thursday evening for the eighth finals of the Copa del Rey. Ronald Koeman’s team could have decided the cup match with fellow countryman Cornellà within regular playing time, but both Miralem Pjanic and substitute Ousmane Dembélé missed a penalty kick. Dembélé and Martin Braithwaite shot Barcelona in the necessary extension to the next round of the Spanish cup tournament. Afterwards, Koeman was not happy about the extra minutes that his players had to make.

“We missed two penalties and we created many opportunities. This should not happen to a club like Barcelona. We have to decide a match like this much earlier ”, analyzed Koeman, who was one of the best penalty shooters in the world in his active career. “How can it be solved? I don’t understand in the first place. There are enough players who can score from a penalty kick. It could be fear, I don’t know. If you use a penalty kick, the team will rest. Again, Barcelona players cannot miss two penalties in one match. That’s not serious. ”

Koeman was asked whether there should be more practice on taking penalties. “The pressure is not that great,” replied the Dutchman. “There is no audience. You have to keep your cool and score. And of course you can always miss a penalty kick, but two in one match is unacceptable. The result was an extension and extra efforts. That’s not really common for a match like this. ” Koeman did not think any burden had fallen off his shoulder. “There was a lot to lose here and little to gain. Cornellà played a great game and their goalkeeper was the best. ”

“It seems that we have trouble scoring. Again. We could have made it much easier for ourselves and Cornellà played great. I now understand why they won from Atlético Madrid. But we have to look more into why we had to play again for 120 minutes ”, Koeman referred to Sunday, when Barcelona was unable to prevent Athletic Club from forcing an extension in the final of the Spanish Super Cup. The Basques eventually grabbed the trophy.

Koeman chose a line-up in which Riqui Puig, Junior Firpo, Trincao and Neto were finally allowed to appear at the starting signal again and the eighteen-year-old Ilaix Moriba was allowed to make his debut. “He has shown that he can have a future with this club.” He was less satisfied with the team performance. “We knew at the start of the season that there was a few things missing.” Riqui Puig was replaced by Dembélé at half time. “I wanted more depth with two players on the sides, so I put Antoine Griezmann behind Martin Braithwaite. Riqui also had a yellow card. ”

Koeman has no preferences for Friday’s draw. “The cup is always difficult, whether you play against a team from LaLiga or a club like Cornellà. We saw that today. ” In addition to Barcelona, ​​Athletic, Real Betis, Granada, Levante, Osasuna, Seville, Real Sociedad, Valencia, Real Valladolid, Villarreal, Almeria, Girona, Rayo Vallecano, Alcoyano and Navalcarnero also qualify for the eighth finals.