Barcelona (AFP)

FC Barcelona is not dead!

Two days after the search and arrests that shook the club, the Catalans managed their "comeback" against Sevilla on Wednesday (3-0 after extra time) to reach the final of the Spanish Cup and send a signal to Paris SG.

After losing 2-0 in the first leg, Barça took the lead thanks to a nice strike in the top corner from Ousmane Dembélé (12th), then snatched the extension thanks to a last-minute header from Gerard Pique (90th +3) on a cross from Antoine Griezmann.

He then validated his ticket for the final thanks to a goal from Martin Braithwaite in overtime (95th), while the Sevillians had evolved to ten since the expulsion of Fernando (90th + 2).

Two other red cards addressed to the Sevillian bench, also in overtime, came to extinguish the last Andalusian qualifying hopes (102nd, 103rd).

But this Catalan awakening, completely unexpected after the recent sporting disillusions and the legal scandal that rocked the club on Monday, had to alert Paris Saint-Germain.

Winner 4-1 at Camp Nou in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, the Parisians will have to approach the return match seriously, next Wednesday at the Parc des Princes, against this surprising and resourceful Barça.

Because Wednesday is one of his best performances of the season that signed the eleven of Ronald Koeman.

After snatching his qualification on the wire against Granada in the previous round (5-3), and against Cornella (D3) even before, the Catalans did it again on Wednesday, pushing the match further into overtime to shower Sevillian hopes.

For the first time in a long time, Barça played as a team: the outputs of the Sevillian pressing were surprisingly smooth and serene, and the link with the attacking elements was easily found.

In particular thanks to the sharp and vertical calls of the French world champion Ousmane Dembélé, preferred to Griezmann to accompany Messi in attack ... but who finished the match on the bench, visibly affected in the left calf and replaced by Francisco Trincao (89th).

- Pique grimace -

This match was full of twists and turns and could have changed several times.

On a powerful acrobatic scissor recovery from the left foot of Jordi Alba, who crashed on the crossbar (67th), for example.

Or on a decisive save by Marc-André ter Stegen when Lucas Ocampos badly hit a penalty (73rd) after a foul by Oscar Mingueza in the box.

Koeman, who had decided to stay on his effective 3-5-2 in recent matches, still won his tactical showdown against Julen Lopetegui, with a still promising pattern ... at the expense of Griezmann, who entered the course game in the 62nd but remained almost transparent, except for the decisive pass to Pique.

The Catalan defender has also given shivers to a whole club: returning from a heavy injury to the right knee, Pique grimaced while holding the same ball at the end of the match (107th).

And even if he held on until the final whistle, this alert is one to watch, one week from the poster against PSG.

Under the eyes of the three candidates for the election for the presidency of the club, housed side by side in the empty Camp Nou and who will face each other in Sunday's ballot, Barça's heavy start to the week has therefore led to a apotheosis.

A first successful "remount", two days after the arrest of ex-president Josep Maria Bartomeu (since released) in the context of the "Barçagate" affair ... And a big signal sent to the Paris SG which has certainly witnessed, from a distance, the unexpected and brutal awakening of a Barça under sedation for a year.

© 2021 AFP