Roth Regatta

Wednesday night was not a good night for Barcelona, who was dismissed from the Copa del Rey tournament by Sevilla. Barca was eliminated on away goals after the series tied 2-2 on the aggregate score. Sevilla won against Barcelona on the first leg, 2-1, and the goal made by Barca in the last seconds of Wednesday’s game was not enough to give the team a chance to move to the quarterfinals of the tournament. With the exit, Barcelona will be unable to repeat last year’s feat, when they set a rec

ord by winning six titles in the season. Their performance last year was unprecedented; this year, however, is a different story. This is the first time since April of 2008 that Barca has been eliminated from a competition; that time they were ousted by Manchester United in the semifinals for the Champions League. Coach Pep Guardiola did not hide his unhappiness at being dismissed from the competition, even though Sevilla is a talented team. The loss, Guardiola said, took his team by surprise, a

nd the defeat deeply affected the players. “We are out and it hurts to be eliminated from this competition,” Guardiola said. “It’s not good news, even if people will say that we can now concentrate on La Liga and the Champions League,” he added. “In sport we are not taught how to lose and this has affected us. With this squad and these players maybe I should have got more out of them in the Cup and not lost in the last 16 and I am sorry that I failed.” The hero of the night was Sevilla