Ramón Juan, Cornellà’s great wall who during 90 minutes stopped two penalties from Pjanic and Démbelé
When Cornellà was drawn against Atlético de Madrid no one thought the green team from Catalonia would stand a chance to compete against Diego Simeone’s giants.
The team that fell in the final of the promotion playoffs to the Spanish Second Division last season has not started of as well this season.
But the cup is another story. There anyone can fight for their own bread since, like the Champions League in August 2020, everything is decided over one game.
Atleti came to Cornellà with the feeling that this was gonna be easy. Basically get the win and go back home. They were wrong. The municipal ground, the home of the team in green, has a small stand with its back facing against a stadium a little bit bigger. Their neighbor RCD Espanyol. The Madrid squad wasn’t really a U19 team either with players like Joao Felix on the field. But this wouldn’t matter. Cornellà managed to do something that before the game was said to be impossible. They beat the beast from Madrid 2-0 and qualified for the next round of the cup.
And out of all the rivals they could get of course they were drawn against FC Barcelona whos training ground is located ten minutes away from the stadium. Koeman did let some of the first team players rest, but the one who was really missed was Lionel Messi. A disappointment to all the Cornellà players who surely were hoping to be on the same pitch as one of the best football player through history.
Barcelona, however, still played with players like Pjanic, Griezmann y Démbelé. The first and the third actually missed two penalties giving the result 0-0 and extra time. The king of the night, Ramón Juan, Cornellà’s goalkeeper, had an amazing game and showcased himself very well to any club at a higher level looking for a goalkeeper. However, in the end he had to give in as Démbelé and Braithwaite secured a 2-0 victory qualifyin Barça to the round of 16.
