Barcelona ‘deserved more’ says Koeman after 2-0 loss against Sevilla

Barcelona ‘deserved more’ says Koeman after 2-0 loss against Sevilla
Jules Kounde dribbled from inside his half to score the first goal

Barcelona lost 2-0 to Sevilla in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals. Ronald Koeman felt his team were unlucky and lost due to poor refereeing decisions taken during the match.

Jules Kounde, the 22 year-old defender scored a stunning solo goal to give Sevilla the lead. The second goal was scored by an ex-Barcelona midfielder, Ivan Rakitic to double Sevilla’s advantage.

Koeman defended Samuel Umtiti after his errors led to both Sevilla goals

Koeman had earlier termed the Copa del Rey Barcelona’s shortest route to a trophy this season. With both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid already knocked out this is indeed Barcelona’s best chance of winning the Cup.  

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Barcelona coach, Koeman thought his team “deserved more” and highly rated his side’s chances of a comeback at home.  

“I think we deserved more. We played well and created scoring chances. I think the result doesn’t reflect what happened on the pitch, it’s too much of a reward to them for what happened,” said Koeman

“We’re in a good moment, and we’ll continue to fight. We played well, but we played against a great team, and a very physical one. We had opportunities.”

“There’s VAR, but I think we should have had a penalty,” said koeman when asked about a denied penalty to Barcelona.

“We have to try to play to win in the second leg, and there’s hope, although the tie is difficult. At home this team are capable of anything.”

Barcelona boss also supported Umtiti after his disappointing performance on the pitch. Both Sevilla goals were conceded partly due to his error but the manager backed Umtiti to stay strong.

“Umtiti was good in the game. He made mistakes, like everyone else. It’s part of football. It’s not fair to go after him. We all lose and we all win.”

Barcelona will face Sevilla in the return leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals on 2nd March. However, Koeman will have bigger problems on hand in the meantime with the Champions league tie against Paris the biggest of them all.

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