Friday, May 18th, 2012
Athletic Bilbao gave themselves an excellent chance of progressing to the next round of the Copa del Rey with a 0-0 draw away to Barcelona in the Camp Nou. Guardiola decided to leave star men Messi and Villa out of the starting eleven with Bojan given a chance to impress up front. For the visitors, star striker Fernando Llorente didn’t travel.
As expected, the home side dominated possession from the start but struggled to break down a well organized Bilbao defence. In a first half of few opportunities, Iniesta came close to opening to the scoring on several occasions but each time Iraizoz was equal to the task.
After the break the home side pushed harder for an opener and on 51 minutes should have gone in front when Xavi missed from close range after a good cross from Dani Alves. Two minutes later Guardiola decided to bring on Messi but even the introduction of the little Argentine couldn’t unlock the Athletic defence.
Just after the hour mark Barcelona brought on more fire power when Villa replaced Bojan and the Spanish international got involved immediately when he got on the end of an Alves cross but couldn’t get his shot away. With time running out, Barcelona desperately sought a goal to take to San Mamés and almost got it with three minutes remaining when Piqué somehow missed from inside the box. That was the last chance of the game and the tie will now be decided in Bilbao
Tags: Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Copa del Rey
