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Foreign Championships
Valencia dislodges the quadruple tenant! The year of its centenary, the Valencia club sank FC Barcelona in a crash (2-1) Saturday thanks to Kevin Gameiro in the final of the King's Cup, depriving five-fold Catalan team and coach Ernesto Valverde, very weakened .
In the sultry Benito-Villamarin stadium in Seville, the Valencians struck against by Gameiro (21st) and Rodrigo Moreno (33rd). And Barça, still marked by his recent European humiliation, could only reduce the score by his captain Lionel Messi (73), missing the double Liga-Cup and leaving Valencia spinning to the eighth crown in King's Cup of its history , the first since 2008.
How will the Catalans recover from this end of the season in a fishtail? While a fabulous league Liga-Coupe-Champions League tripled their arms in early May, they won only the Championship of Spain and appeared durably leaded by their defeat in the semifinals of C1 Liverpool (3- 0, 0-4).
Without a spring, they dropped their King's Cup crown on Saturday after four consecutive seals and nearly 1,500 days of unchallenged domination, just missing their 31st title and an unprecedented quintupled in the history of the competition.
The big loser of the evening is Ernesto Valverde: strengthened in his functions despite two bitter European eliminations in two years, publicly supported by Messi Friday, the Barcelona coach has not found the keys to remobilize his troops against Valencia.
Gameiro rewarded
His playing style, so calculating, suddenly finds itself under the fire of critics, far from the audacious pbading game at the Barcelona. And the offseason looks hot for the "Txingurri" (The Ant, Basque), which is likely to disappoint all summer despite a contract recently extended at least until 2020.
Messi had a lot to support Valverde, he tried to remobilize his partners by calling to "finish well" the season, the final of the King's Cup illustrated the ills of the team blaugrana, without ideas in the absence of many injured players (Suarez, Dembélé, Ter Stegen …).
To make matters worse, the Catalans showed a defensive feverishness guilty, like Clément Lenglet. Called this week for the first time with the France team, the central defender has multiplied the wrong choices, like the release that could have offered a ball to Rodrigo Moreno goal without a rescue on his line Gerard Piqué (5th).
On the opening score, the two central Barcelona defenders were naively attracted by Rodrigo to leave only Kevin Gameiro, who cleared Jordi Alba a hook before sending the ball under the bar (21st). A great reward for the Frenchman, who announced on his arrival at the club last summer that he was planning to raise a trophy.
Old demons
This first goal reflected well the match, between a barren domineering Barça and a Valencia operating against. And the Valencians broke the nail at the half hour mark, Carlos Soler overflowing on the right before centering hard for Rodrigo (33).
Obviously, Barça was confronted with his old demons and Messi, too isolated, could only rarely get out of the trap (18th, 44th, 45th).
At the break, Valverde tried to move the lines: Arturo Vidal and Malcom entered and immediately, Barça was more threatening. Messi shuddered when his little outside of the foot hit the inside of the post (56 ').
Then the Argentinian brought back a time hope by sending in the bottom a ball pushed back by the goalkeeper after a head of Lenglet (73rd).
But in a stifling end of the match, even the desperate repositioning of Piqué as center forward did not allow the Catalans to snatch extra time.
Valencia was able to exult: qualified for the next Champions League, winner of the King's Cup, the club "che" lived a euphoric month of May. All the opposite of Barça, returned to his doubts and his heartbreaks.
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