Barcelona have won the Copa del Rey this season, winning the final against La Liga rivals Athletic on Saturday evening.
Spanish giants Barcelona got the better of Bilbao 4-0 in the final on Saturday evening.
It was not always plain-sailing for Ronald Koeman’s side, who were frustrated until the 60th minute when they scored their first goal.
Antoine Griezmann turned in Frenkie de Jong’s cross on the hour mark to put the Blaugrana in the lead, and De Jong himself headed home the second just three minutes later.
Lionel Messi then turned on the style and scored twice, first in the 68th minute and then on 72 minutes.
The Argentine superstar’s first goal was brilliant, as he drove from inside his own half, exchanged the ball twice with De Jong, and then found the back of the net with a lovely finish.
For his second, Messi swept in a cross from Jordan Alba, as Barcelona celebrated their Copa del Rey triumph.
This is what we learned from Barcelona’s win against Bilbao:
Lionel Messi is still the GOAT
Lionel Messi is arguably the best player of all time, and he showed that again on Saturday evening. The Argentine scored one of the best goals of the season and turned up when he needed to. Given that the Argentine is 33 years of age now, many will think that he is past his prime, but Messi demonstrated against Bilbao on Saturday evening that it is not the case.
La Liga title challenge not over yet
Barcelona are two points behind leaders Atletico Madrid in the La Liga table at the moment and recently lost to Real Madrid in El Clasico. There will be some who will be sceptical of the chances of Koeman’s side winning the title, but they are very much in the race. The former European champions showed against Bilbao that there is still fight left in them, and Atletico and Madrid should not become complacent about Barcelona, who are rated at 6/1 by Betfair to win their next La Liga game against Getafe at Camp Nou.
Athletic Bilbao should be proud
Bilbao should be proud of the way they performed against Barcelona. True, the Blaugrana eventually scored four goals and won it easy in the end, but the way the Basque club frustrated their opponents for an hour should be very encouraging. Bilbao are not having a great season in La Liga, but they should not give up on finishing in the European places.
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