Barcelona’s defense of the Copa del Rey title has come to an end at the Round of 16 stage thanks to a brutal 3-2 loss to Athletic Bilbao after 120 minutes of highly competitive football at San Mamés. Barça played poorly but showed great fighting spirit to come back from behind twice in regulation, but conceded a penalty in extra-time and lost both Ansu Fati and Pedri to injuries in what might go down as the most costly defeat of the season for Xavi’s men.
FIRST HALF
Barça started the game already losing: just 90 seconds into the game Nico Williams beat Jordi Alba for pace on the right side and crossed it along the ground to find Iker Muniain down the left, and the Bilbao captain saw Marc-André ter Stegen out of position and chipped the German to score an amazing goal and put the home team ahead.