JAKARTA - Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman called football unfair, but extraordinary after his team beat Granada 5-3 in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals on Thursday, after trailing two goals in stoppage time.
"It was incredible, football was extraordinary", said the Dutchman who was quoted by Reuters as saying after the match.
"The first thing I want to highlight is the mentality of this team because we never stop trying to win".
Barca hit the post three times in that match in normal time and was repeatedly thwarted by Granada goalkeeper Aaron Escandell.
Barcelona trailed 0-2 and was almost knocked out of the competition until Antoine Griezmann scored in the 88th minute and Jordi Alba equalized in the last minute.
Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong, and Alba scored in extra time while Fede Vico scored a penalty for Granada.
"In the first half, football was unfair to us, because we had made a great start to the game, but we made the mistake of trying to play beautiful football in an area where you shouldn't have and it cost us the first goal", added Koeman.
"We knew we had a little bit of luck, we had lots of good chances, but the ball didn't go in, either the goalkeeper made a save or hit the post. It looked like we were going to lose".
"However, we really showed our mentality when they scored the second goal, we never let our heads drop, we had the unbelievable bad luck of not scoring, but we deserved the win in the end".
📌 Proximo reto en Copa: las semifinales https://t.co/7l5uk1yAeJ
- FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) February 4, 2021
Griezmann also praised his team's spirit and the new format of the Copa del Rey with only one leg playing since last season.
"It is a beautiful match, much better as a one-time because anything can happen", he said.
"We suffered a lot, but we gave a good image of ourselves until the end".
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