Football: Barca oust Real in Spanish Cup quarters

Holders draw at Camp Nou but go out on aggregate.

MADRID: Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and his players breathed a collective sigh of relief after they were given a mighty Spanish Cup scare by holders Real Madrid before holding on to eliminate their arch-rivals 4-3 on aggregate after having drawn their quarter-final second-leg 2-2.

Barcelona, who lost to Real in last year’s final, were 2-0 ahead by halftime but the visitors rallied to pull two goals back and leave themselves needing only one more to advance. In the frenetic closing stages, Real defender Sergio Ramos was shown a second yellow card and sent off with his teammates berating the match officials as they left the pitch.

Guardiola admitted his team had to fight every minute to carve out a difficult win.

“It’s more difficult each time to beat Real and that’s why we are pleased with the game today,” said Guardiola. “Madrid are a great team and that’s why the victory is worth so much. They played a good match but over the 180 minutes we were the deserved winners.”

Barca fullback Daniel Alves, who blasted a spectacular goal to make it 2-0, said Real had played ‘phenomenally well’.

“This is the version of Real that causes us the most problems because they pressure you a lot,” said Alves.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2012.