Copa del Rey latest scores: Barcelona win 2-1 against Linares from behind

Linares vs Barcelona Predictions

Linares vs Barcelona Preview

Barcelona is holding the record of the Copa del Rey competition with 31 times reaching the highest title. The Nou Camp home team have been trying their best to win Copa del Rey this season as compensation for their failure in the Champions League and La Liga. In addition, facing a team like Linares who have been playing in the Spanish third division (Primera División RFEF) was not a difficult challenge for the Catalant giants. 

However, Barca still needed to be careful against these opponents even when their performances have been improved in recent games. To guarantee a firm win, Xavi named many key players for the game like Sergio Busquets, Dani Alves, Jordi Alba. 

On the other side, Linares Deportivo were not easy to be beaten. Their form was impressive recently with a series of 8 unbeaten games (6 wins and 2 draws) in the Primera División RFEF- Group 2. They have also humiliated 4-0 against Sevilla Atletico on a wonderful day when they scored 3 goals after the break time. 

Linares vs Barca

Players’ Information for the match between Linares vs Barcelona:

- Linares Deportivo: Their strongest line-up.

- Barcelona: Braithwaite, Roberto, Pedri and Depay were absent due to injuries; Gavi, Coutinho, Dest, Ez Abde, Bale and Torres were tested positive for Covid-19.

Linares 1-2 Barcelona

Official Line-ups: 

• Linares Deportivo (4-4-2): Brimah Razak, José Manuel Gómez, Lolo Guerrero, Álvaro Barbosa, Daniel Perejón, Alejandro Meléndez, Alberto Rodríguez, Carnicer, Rubén Sanchidrián, Copete,  Hugo Díaz. 
• Barcelona (3-1-4-2): Neto, Ronald Araújo, Eric García, Óscar Mingueza, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Ricard Puig, Nicolas Gonzalez, Dani Alves, Ferran Jutglà,  Ilias Akhomach. 

As it happened, Barca joined the game against Linares Deportivo with a squad of many young and substituted players. Noticeably, legend Dani Alves was finally set to make his second debut in this game. 

Having an overwhelming line-up, Barca subjectively attacked right after the staring whistle resounded. Their ball possession percentage was up to 82% in the first half but Linares were the ones who opened the scoring.  

In the 6th and 9th minutes, Barcelona’s Araujo and Ilias Akhomach had 2 dangerous shots. Unfortunately, the Uruguayan forward’s header went wide of the far post while the Spanish player’s kick was out of the goalpost. Blaugrana attacked tremendously but their shots were lack of accuracy in front of a defensive line-up of Linares. They were then suddenly conceded a goal in the 19th minute due to the lack of focus of the defensive players. Thanks to Carnicer's cross from the right, Hugo Diaz immediately took his header easily when having no Barca’s player prevent. It was 1-0 for the home team. After being led, the visitors continued playing attacking and kept pressing to control the game. However, Xavi’s squad met a lot of difficulties to equalize the score when Linares played disciplinarily.

Linares players celebrate their first goal

In the second half, Barca made important changes by sending Dembele, Frenkie de Jong and Pique onto the pitch. Their attacking line played better and made more dangerous chances. In the 63rd minute, from 25 yards out, Dembele got the ball from Mingueza, twisted away from Alvaro Barbosa, and directed a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner. Barcelona was back in the game thanks to this magical moment. 

Dembele opens the scoring for Barca in the second half

Dangerously, Lineres’s Hugo Diaz once again knocked out Neto just 4 minutes after Barca’s first goal. Linares put the ball back in the net from a corner after Neto made a costly error, but Hugo Diaz was found to have interfered with play from an offside position so the goal was disallowed. 

In the 69th minute, Ferran Jutgla gave Barcelona the lead after coming in from the left, turning Lolo Guerrero inside out and sending the ball into the far corner of Razak's goal. It was 2-1 for Barcelona. 

Ferran Jutglà saves Barca from a draw

After that goal, some impressive shots were created by both teams but they were lack of accuracy and no other goals were made. The result was 2-1 finally and Barca could celebrate to gain the ticket to join the Round of 16 in the 2021-22 Copa del Rey.

Reference Sources

• marca.com
• betimate.com