Football NewsRonald Koeman was not happy with his side’s victory away to Cornella
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The Dutchman was unhappy with how hard the Blaugrana was trying to achieve for themselves, wasting chances and needing extra time.

Ronald Koeman is not happy with Barcelona’s performance

Barcelona move to the last 16 of the Copa del Rey. Still, Ronald Koeman was not happy with his side’s victory away to Cornella. The Dutchman was unhappy with how hard the Blaugrana was trying to achieve for themselves, wasting chances and needing extra time. “Important thing is always to progress to the next round, but we cannot be happy because we’ve missed opportunities and penalties and you need to have a responsibility in these games,” Koeman said after the victory. “Again, it is 120 minutes, which is a problem, since these are three straight matches now and it is on us. We’ve made chances and had two penalties… that cannot happen. I cannot blame our efforts, but it’s not just about running, also creating and being effective. Today it was hard for us… it is not acceptable.”

Barcelona missed a lot of penalties

Barcelona’s spot-kick record this season is notably conceding, having missed five of 12 and no one other than Leo Messi, who was a useful player. There’s not much pressure to take a penalty as there is no crowd. You need a cool head,” said Koeman. “Other than Leo Messi, we have no one to show that they can score a lot of penalties. We need to train more and talk more to improve this area’s situation. It might be fear, and I don’t know why we missed so many penalties. You cannot miss two penalties being Barcelona players. That is serious.” Koeman rang the Copa del Rey game changes, and there were mixed reviews of those who came into the team, but he was happy enough with the debutants if Cornelli’s goalkeeper Ramon Juan was more impressed.

“Those who made their debut today showed that they could have a future at the club, but we also saw that we were missing things,” said Koeman. “Ilaix Moriba is a prospect and important to the club’s future. Their goalkeeper was the best on the pitch. We had enough chances for it to be an easy game.”