Antoine Griezmann led Barcelona back from the brink on Wednesday as the Catalans beat Granada 5-3 after extra-time to win a riveting cup ti...
Antoine Griezmann led Barcelona back from the brink on Wednesday as the Catalans beat Granada 5-3 after extra-time to win a riveting cup tie and reach the Copa del Rey semi-finals.
Barca looked set to crash out at Los Carmenes when Granada led 2-0 with two minutes of normal time remaining but Griezmann scored one goal in the 88th minute and then set up Jordi Alba for a dramatic equaliser in the 92nd.
Griezmann headed his team in front in extra-time only for Granada’s Fede Vico to make it 3-3 with a penalty.
Yet Frenkie de Jong’s finish and a thumping volley from Alba, also set up by Griezmann, sent a relieved Barcelona through.
“It was a brilliant, beautiful cup tie,” said Griezmann.
Ronald Koeman admitted the Copa del Rey is his team’s “shortest route” to a trophy this season and with Atletico Madrid 10 points clear in La Liga and Paris Saint-Germain to come in the Champions League, it may prove their only route too.
Granada, though, came within a whisker of another huge upset as goals from Robert Kenedy and Roberto Soldado put them in sight of the last four.
Instead, Koeman’s side rallied, with Lionel Messi the architect and Griezmann delivering surely his best performance since he joined Barcelona from Atletico...
