Sin Yassine Bono, el Sevilla se queda sin final de Copa

It wasn't just the absence of Bono that was key to Sevilla FC's elimination. Julen Lopetegui's team threw the game away from minute one. They played without the intensity and grit that characterises them. He left Jesus Navas, Rakitic, Munir El Haddadi and Ocampos on the bench. Barcelona had faith until the end and so in the 93rd minute Piqué headed in a great goal to equalise and go to extra time, in a poorly defended move by Sevilla.

The first goal is a clear example of sloppiness. Dembelé makes a perfect shot, but it's also true that the Sevilla defence doesn't bother him, letting him shoot unchallenged on the edge of the area. The ball was very close to the top corner, but goalkeeper Vaclík did nothing to stop it either. As they usually say to goalkeepers, "he played the statue".

Barcelona's chances were coming and going; Acuña pulled one back from the edge of the area, Jordi Alba crashed another against the crossbar. Sevilla were nowhere near their opponents' goal. They were totally overwhelmed by a Barcelona team with a lot of quality players. 

Ter Stegen saved the penalty from Ocampos that would have meant the sentence for Ronald Koeman's team. Once again the goalkeeper was decisive. Yassine Bono was absent, but Sevilla's first-choice goalkeeper was not. Last Tuesday during training the Moroccan goalkeeper had to withdraw due to a finger problem and could not be available for the cup match. 

Last season, Bono took advantage of an injury to Vaclík to win the starting line-up with some outstanding performances. Bad luck meant that in the most important match Bono was not available in Barcelona. We cannot know if with the great "match-saving" goalkeeper Sevilla would have been eliminated.

Despite Sevilla's bad game and the good performance of Koeman's team, the key was also the missed penalty taken by Ocampos in the 71st minute. If the Argentinian had scored, Barcelona would have had to score three goals in about twenty minutes, which would have been impossible.

Yassine Bono's great performance last season in the Europa League earned him a starting place and Lopetegui has been relying on him ever since. The Czech Vaclik was unquestionable, but Bono took his place with a great final phase.

In short, Bono is an experienced goalkeeper who saves games. But unfortunately for Sevilla he has not been able to play in the most important game of the season. It is Barcelona who reach the final of the Copa de Rey.