A detailed, player-by-player breakdown of Barcelona's Copa del Rey-winning performance against Athletic Bilbao.
| Marc-Andre ter Stegen |
7.3 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 49
Passes: 31
Pass Accuracy: 84%
Shots Faced: 3
Saves Made: 2
Clearances: 3
Bostjan says: 7.0
You will struggle to find a moment in this game that ter Stegen could include into his highlight-reel, but there weren’t many mistakes either. He was beaten on the only shot that wasn’t straight at him and at times looked uneasy with the ball at his feet due to the constant pressure from Athletic’s players – something he was very nearly punished for in the 10th minute when he barely kept the ball under pressure from Iñaki Williams. Ter Stegen had a very strong game controlling his air-space. |
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| Dani Alves |
8.2 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 110
Passes: 91
Pass Accuracy: 93%
Key Passes: 4
Turnovers: 3
Tackles: 3
Fouls: 3
Clearances: 2
Fouls Won: 5
Interceptions: 0
Bostjan says: 8.0
Athletic found most of their success attacking down Alves’ side, especially after the introduction of Ibai Gomez, but Alves did well to limit the damage. But Alves’ biggest contributions came in attack where he was a constant threat down the right side. As he has over just about his entire Barcelona career, he combined brilliantly with Messi throughout. While Alves did attempt a couple of very poor crosses he also sent several very useful passes to the middle, one of which was converted for a goal. |
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| Gerard Pique |
8.0 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 78
Passes: 68
Pass Accuracy: 91%
Tackles: 2
Interceptions: 0
Clearances: 6
Aerial Duels Won: 2
Bostjan says: 8.0
Pique once again had a very strong defensive game, but Williams caused him a few problems. For example, late in the first half Pique gave too much space to him and the young forward almost burned Barcelona with a well-placed shot. Otherwise though, he was very sound positionally. Pique also had an excellent chance to add to Barcelona‘s lead midway through the first half with a header on goal, but his attempt was well saved. |
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| Javier Mascherano |
7.8 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 84
Passes: 76
Pass Accuracy: 91%
Tackles: 1
Interceptions: 2
Clearances: 3
Aerial Duels Won: 1
Successful Dribbles: 1
Bostjan says: 8.0
Once again El Jefecito proved why he’s being trusted with playing in all these big games in the heart of the defense. Aritz Aduriz found very little success playing against Mascherano who never seemed to be more than a couple of feet away from him. The Argentine was always aware of where the ball was and was always in the perfect position to make the play that was necessary. |
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| Jordi Alba |
7.6 |
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Minutes played: 76
Touches: 48
Passes: 42
Pass Accuracy: 93%
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Tackles: 0
Interceptions: 0
Clearances: 2
Key Passes: 0
Aerial Duels Won: 0
Bostjan says: 7.0
Of all the Barcelona players on the pitch Alba was probably the quietest of them all. He played a good game defensively, for the most part that is, as he was guilty of a turnover late in the first have that led to Williams’ first chance of the game. Alba rarely joined his team in attack and only one overlapping run comes to mind – though he did create a very good scoring chance from it. |
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| Sergio Busquets |
7.6 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 57
Passes: 48
Pass Accuracy: 96%
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Tackles: 3
Interceptions: 0
Clearances: 2
Turnovers: 1
Aerial Duels Won: 1
Key Passes: 0
Fouls Won: 4
Sam says: 7.0
Barcelona needed a strong defensive performance from Busquets if they were to stop Athletic from breaking and they got that through three tackles and an interception. His passing was also crisp and precise making a total of 50 passes with an accuracy of 94%. He also showed his other side of the game when Bilbao were angry at Neymar’s attempted skill, Busquets was one of the first to put himself in-between the raging Athletic players and Neymar. |
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| Andres Iniesta |
7.8 |
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Minutes played: 55
Touches: 41
Passes: 37
Pass Accuracy: 95%
Shots/Shots on Target: 1/0
Turnovers: 0
Key Passes: 0
Successful Dribbles: 0
Tackles: 1
Sam says: 7.0
A solid performance from Iniesta in which he helped to maintain control in midfield which allowed the front three the space to attack Bilbao. His passing was good and he was often a way out for the defence. He didn’t make as many dribbles as we are used to seeing but the quality of opponent could be an explanation for that. With the Champions League final looming, Iniesta made way for his old friend Xavi on the 55th minute. |
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| Ivan Rakitić |
8.1 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 64
Passes: 55
Pass Accuracy: 98%
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Fouls Won: 3
Turnovers: 3
Successful Dribbles: 1
Key Passes: 1
Tackles: 1
Sam says: 7.5
In his first cup final for the club, Rakitić played very well and was a controlling factor in the midfield. His passing was superb with an incredibly high success rate of 98% and he completed the highest number of passes for the midfield. He was also keen to defend well when needed to and largely provided cover for when the front three went on the attack. |
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| Luis Suarez |
8.2 |
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Minutes played: 77
Touches: 29
Passes: 20
Pass Accuracy: 50%
Shots/Shots on Target: 2/1
Turnovers: 3
Successful Dribbles: 2
Key Passes: 2
Fouls Won: 4
Tackles: 0
Ahmed says: 8.0
Brought straight back into the team in a decision that has more than paid off so far. Suarez wasn’t quite able to get the better off Iago Herrerin on the night but was vital by being involved pretty much everything going forward. The Uruguayan worked as hard as ever and showed exemplary movement. Suarez assisted Neymar for Barcelona’s decisive second in a typical unselfish manner by laying it on a platter for the Brazilian despite being in a good position to score himself. |
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| Lionel Messi |
9.6 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 90
Passes: 61
Pass Accuracy: 78%
Shots/Shots on Target: 3/3
Fouls Won: 2
Successful Dribbles: 5
Key Passes: 1
Turnovers: 7
Tackles: 3
Ahmed says: 10.0
Magical Messi. There really isn’t much more to write. The best player in history was unstoppable once again. His first will surely go down as one of the all-time great goals in the Copa del Rey’s history and the second was a fine predatory finish after a perfectly timed run. Otherworldly. |
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| Neymar |
8.6 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 57
Passes: 43
Pass Accuracy: 81%
Shots/Shots on Target: 4/2
Fouls Won: 8
Key Passes: 0
Successful Dribbles: 3
Tackles: 1
Turnovers: 3
Ahmed says: 8.5
A constant threat and will have given certain Athletic Bilbao defenders nightmares (he was easily the most fouled player on the pitch). Scored the second goal with a tap-in and consequently became the joint-top goalscorer of the competition alongside Iago Aspas. The Brazilian’s end-product could at time have been better. Neymar was heavily accused of show-boating towards the end mainly by opposing players tired of chasing shadows. |
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| Xavi | 8.1 |
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Minutes played: 35
Touches: 32
Passes: 28
Pass Accuracy: 96%
Key Passes: 1
Arron says: 8.0
After a tremendous send-off last weekend against Deportivo La Coruna, one could be forgiven for thinking that we were never going to see Xavi take to the field at the Camp Nou in a Blaugrana jersey; and then everyone remembered about the Copa del Rey final. This truly was his final match in Catalunya and he'll be pleased with the way it ended: with him lifting the King's Cup alongside Andres Iniesta. In terms of his performance, this won't go down as one of Xavi's finest -- but it was solid nonetheless. Oh, and I can't have been the only one who cursed the frame of the goal in injury time...alas, there's always next week Xavi! |
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| Jeremy Mathieu |
7.1 |
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Minutes played: 13
Touches: 11
Passes: 8
Pass Accuracy: 75%
Clearances: 1
Arron says: 7.0
A late replacement for Jordi Alba, Mathieu didn't have an awful lot to do on Saturday, nor did he do anything wrong. It was a simple cameo appearance, and based on the performance of the rest of the team, it's the best he can hope for next weekend in Berlin. |
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| Pedro |
7.0 |
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Minutes played: 13
Touches: 11
Passes: 7
Pass Accuracy: 71%
Fouls Won: 1
Arron says: 7.0
Another quiet appearance for the Spaniard, who could probably count himself a touch unfortunate to drop to the bench after a couple of decent performances. Then again, he was up against Luis Suarez, and that decision worked out pretty well for Luis Enrique. The only question is: will Pedro be here to help us challenge for glory next season? |
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| The Team | 7.8 |
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Passes: 635
Pass Accuracy: 89%
Shots/Shots on Target: 12/7
Tackles: 15
Aerial Battles Won: 35%
Fouls Won/Committed: 29/12
Arron says: 10.0
As close to perfection as we are going to see; or indeed could have hoped headed into the match. We have a good record in Copa finals against Athletic in recent years, but no-one quite expected a repeat, at least not this time around. Then again, I think we've learnt not to underestimate Barça under Lucho -- this was a complete whitewash, a dominant performance from worthy champions. Play like this next week, and the treble will surely be ours. |
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| Luis Enrique |
7.7 |
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Arron says: 10.0
It was probably a gamble to slot Suarez right back into the team, but it worked beautifully. Mascherano at centre-half was maybe another one, but it also paid dividends. Everything he did went exactly to plan -- pretty emblematic of our post-Anoeta performances if you ask me. |
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| MOTM - Lionel Messi |
90% |
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Bostjan says: Messi
This one really should be pretty self-explanatory. As expected Messi ran away with it, picking up just over 90% of the votes. The other two members of the MSN trio joined Messi on the podium, with Neymar getting 5% and Suarez 2% of the votes, respectively. |
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