If Barcelona won the Copa del Rey this season, it would have happened with great difficulty.
The team had started its journey in the 32nd round of the competition by beating Cornella (a third-class club) after two additional games, and it also reversed its delay to a victory against Rayo Vallecano at the price of the final of the tournament.
In the quarter-finals of the competition, Barcelona found themselves losing two goals until the 88th minute in front of Granada, to score two goals that brought the team back to the forefront to play two more games after that, and the match ended in its favor with a score of 5-3.
And if those three difficult matches were not enough for Barcelona's career in the Cup, the semi-final draw that was held last Friday put the team in a difficult confrontation with Seville, one of the favorites to win the title, as the first-leg match will be held at the "Sanchez Pizjuan" stadium on Wednesday.
And it became certain - according to the way in which coach Ronald Koeman chose his squad to face Real Betis on Sunday - that the team is looking seriously at the Cup.
Coman had put the sparkling trio of Spaniard Pedri, Dutchman Frenkie de Jong and Argentine Lionel Messi on the bench against Betis in the recent period.
Coman's plan did not result in anything, as Betis advanced with a goal, and Barcelona needed Messi to participate, score a goal and contribute to the creation of the other, to win the Catalan team 3-2.
"The Cup is the shortest way to win championships for us, but Seville is a very good team, and I seek to protect the players from injury," Coman said - in comments after the Betis match.
This plan did not succeed, and Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo was injured and will not be present against the Andalusian team on Wednesday, and Araujo joined the list of injured by the American Serginho Dest, the Dane, Martin Brathwaite, and the Bosnian Miralem Pjanic.
Coach Julien Lopetegui's team is going through a good stage, winning 7 consecutive matches in all championships, but he will continue his way in the tournament without his Argentine player Lucas Ocampos, who scored the winning goal against Almeria, contributing to the team reaching the semi-finals of the cup.
Ocampos suffered a sprained ankle after a strong intervention from Getafe defender DeGene, who received a red card last Saturday. Ocampos is expected to miss a period of 6 weeks.
Seville and Barcelona are the only two teams in Spain that have the possibility of achieving the treble this season despite the difficulty of the task in the league championship with the control of leaders Atlético Madrid and his move away by 8 points in the lead, with a game postponed for him.
Both teams know that winning the cup is the easiest option in the three tournaments, and the winner from that confrontation will face the winner from facing Athletic Bilbao and Levante in the final match of the competition.