Barcelona overcame Alaves in Luis Enrique\u2019s last match in charge, winning the Copa del Rey final thanks to Lionel Messi\u2019s inspired display.<\/p>\n
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Lionel Messi ensured Luis Enrique\u2019s Barcelona reign ended with a trophy as he inspired a third consecutive Copa del Rey title with a 3-1 final win over Alaves.<\/p>\n
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The Barca coach announced his planned departure from Camp Nou at the start of March, with his side then falling short of rivals Real Madrid in LaLiga and Juventus in the Champions League.<\/p>\n
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But Luis Enrique belatedly added to the sizeable haul of medals collected in his first two years in charge as Messi showed his class in the last game to be played at Atletico Madrid\u2019s Vicente Calderon.<\/p>\n
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Having scraped past Atleti 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals in February, with Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez both sent off, Barca looked in for a similarly nervy contest as Alaves started well and Theo Hernandez then equalised Messi\u2019s opener.<\/p>\n
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The Basque side had stunned Barca with a 2-1 league success at Camp Nou in September, but this game threatened to bear greater resemblance to a 6-0 away triumph in the reverse fixture as Neymar scored the next goal and Messi teed up Paco Alcacer to put Barca out of sight.<\/p>\n
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Although Alaves kept the score down after the break, they rarely looked likely to trouble the commanding lead built by Messi and Barca, who will now turn their focus to a board meeting on Monday, after which the club are set to announce Luis Enrique\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n
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Javier Mascherano was stretchered off after an early clash of heads with Marcos Llorente and, although that collision did not constitute a foul in the eyes of the referee, Alaves\u2019 combative approach could have seen Edgar Mendez punished with more than a yellow card when he trod on Samuel Umtiti\u2019s leg.<\/p>\n
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Their tactics were at least effective in limiting Barca\u2019s chances in the opening half an hour and Alaves could have taken the lead as Ibai Gomez\u2019s shot crept under Jasper Cillessen, spinning off the foot of the left-hand post and rolling agonisingly across the face of goal.<\/p>\n
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If Fernando Pacheco looked similarly shaky at the other end in booting Andres Iniesta\u2019s deflected effort clear, there was little he could do to prevent a typically magical Messi finish, Barca\u2019s main man curling into the net from the edge of the box.<\/p>\n
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But Alaves\u2019 spirits were not dampened and they responded with a strike of supreme quality. Hernandez – on loan from Atleti but reportedly destined for Real Madrid – profited from an Iniesta foul as he swept a stunning free-kick over Cillessen and into the top-left corner from the right side of the area.<\/p>\n
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Messi drilled a set-piece of his own straight at Pacheco and Ivan Rakitic drove wide, before Luis Enrique\u2019s men accelerated out of sight in the closing minutes of the first half.<\/p>\n
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Neymar turned Andre Gomes\u2019 low centre across the line to restore his side\u2019s lead and Messi\u2019s terrific close control then created space for Paco Alcacer – starting in place of the suspended Suarez – to coolly finish beyond Pacheco for a third Barca goal.<\/p>\n
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Pacheco\u2019s scrambling save denied Paco Alcacer from Messi\u2019s cross shortly after the restart and Alaves forged a route back into the game, Cillessen blocking from Rodrigo Ely with 20 minutes left and Deyverson then seeing a goal ruled out for offside moments later.<\/p>\n
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But those missed chances cost Mauricio Pellegrino\u2019s side the opportunity to make a fist of the closing stages and Barca cruised to victory, with Aleix Vidal making a late appearance having suffered a serious injury against Alaves in LaLiga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barcelona overcame Alaves in Luis Enrique’s last match in charge, winning the Copa del Rey final thanks to Lionel Messi’s inspired display. Lionel Messi ensured Luis Enrique’s Barcelona reign ended with a trophy as he inspired a third consecutive Copa del Rey title with a 3-1 final win over Alaves. The Barca coach announced his planned departure from Camp Nou at the start of March, with his side then falling short of rivals Real Madrid in LaLiga and Juventus in the Champions League. But Luis Enrique belatedly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7212,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7210\/revisions\/7212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}