FC Barcelona attempted from the beginning to turn things around looking for early goals & thus try to score 4 goals to equal the tie. The 1º st half was virtually a one way street with Barça attacking & Athletic Club defending. The visitors did well stopping advances, staying coordinated limiting spaces & keeping on top of dangerous Barça players like Suarez, Pedro & Messi. It needed the vision of Ratikic to find Suarez who chessed down onto Messi for the Argentine to open the scoreline in the 44th min & keep the Barça hopes alive.
The 2º half looked as if Barça would continue were they left off but a red card to Gerard Pique in the 57th min (complaining to the linesman) left FC Barcelona with 10 men. This gave Bilbao an advantage with more space upfront to exploit.
Surprisingly Barça reacted aggressively to the situation & played better creating chances, however a terrible defensive mistake in the 74th min "gave" the ball to Bilbao striker Aduriz who equalized with a second attempt that blew the wind out of the Barça sails. The endeavour of scoring 4 goals in 15 mins was too much for Barça. Frustrations grew & things got rugged with Bilbao substitute Kike Sola receiving a red card for a hard tackle on Mascherano. On the replay it should have been only a yellow.
FC Barcelona paid dearly for the first leg away 4 - 0 defeat at Bilbao, while the latter worked hard & well tonight to keep things tight & under control.
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