Zaragoza 1 - 2 Barcelona
By: Isaiah | February 28th, 2007
Barcelona have defeated Real Zaragoza away 1-2 to claim a spot in the Copa del Rey semifinal. Unfortunately I was unable to watch the game due to being at work at the time, but I think it suffices to say that Barcelona took it to them early and grabbed control of the game 0-2 on 25 minutes (thanks to the duo pictured at left). I’ve read a couple of the Spanish papers’ reports and they suggest that Barcelona came out with a more attacking formation and tactical approach, which was probably very fun to watch if you weren’t an Zaragoza fan. Xavi grabbed the first after 18 minutes and Iniesta double the lead 7 minutes later. Even though D’Allessandro got a red card in the 68th minute, Pique scored 3 minutes later to level the aggregate score, though Barcelona went through on away goals.
There was crowd trouble at the Betis-Sevilla game after Sevilla scored, with coach Juande Ramos being hit in the head by a bottle, knocking him unconscious; the game was suspended and one can only imagine that UEFA and/or FIFA is going to come down very hard on Betis for this.
In the other games, the ones not marred by violence (as far as I know), Getafe and Deportivo la Coruña advanced. The Barcelona game ended with a Coke bottle smacking into Jorquera (right), which might result in some UEFA and/or FIFA retaliation against Zaragoza. It would be telling, of course, if their reaction was harsher than it was when Zaragoza fans racially abused Eto’o. Whether that is still a problem in the stands or not (it’s obviously still a problem within wider Spanish society as well as Zaragoza in particular since that sort of thing is never “cured” and certainly not in the span of a couple of years), is not something I’m qualified to talk about it, but it would still be interesting if that were the case.
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Tags: Barcelona, Copa del Rey, Deportivo la Coruña, fan violence, Getafe, Iniesta, Real Zaragoza, Review, Team News, XaviSubscribe
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Visca el Barca! Now, for the ‘near-miracle’.
(What’s gotten into the Spanish crowds? Last week the Madrid derby was pretty horrible, but the events at the Seville derby are even worse.)
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