The Copa del Rey Juvenil final next Sunday is to feature the Barça U19s. A very tough game saw them overcome Deportivo de La Coruña 3-2 after extra time to reach the final for a second year in a row.

Both sides score

Not much to choose between the sides in the first half, but Barça had to deal with more attempts on goal by Deportivo albeit none of them were clear cut. That was to change when a long ball by Iker Rodríguez went behind the opponents' defence, and Álex González beat the centre back in a foot race before evading the keeper to finish for his first goal as a blaugrana (min. 41).

Barça came out after the break better organised with a single goal advantage, but Deportivo are a good team and didn't give up. Three changes saw them pile on the pressure and Pablo García duly scored from a tight angle to equalise (min. 59).

Something similar happened when Adrián Guerrero and Nuhu Fofana came on to provide freshness in the blaugrana attack, and the latter put the U19s ahead after excellent play and an assist by Guillem Víctor (min. 67).

More effort required to reach the final

Barça were looking good to go through but Deportivo still had more to say, and Xabi Campos carried the ball forward and finished powerfully to make it 2-2 (min. 83). Extra time was imminent.

The game unsurprisingly calmed down in extra time, with the odd attacking foray by both sides. However, Barça managed to make the most of one of theirs in the 112th minute, when Nuhu Fofana headed an inch perfect cross from Adrián Guerrero that went through the Deportivo keeper's legs. Final score 3-2!

The Copa del Rey Juvenil final kicks off at 11.45am CET on Sunday at the Anxo Carro stadium in Lugo, with only Betis standing in the way of retaining the trophy.

MATCH STATS

BARÇA 3
DEPORTIVO 2

Barça: Iker Rodríguez, Guillem Víctor, Campos, Baba Kourouma (Nico Marcipar, min 90), Pol Bernabeu (Lorenzo, min 90), Villar, Shane Kluivert (Nil Vicens, min 105), Orian, Abdelkarim (Nuhu Fofana, min 60), Pedro Rodríguez (Quim Junyent, min 35), Álex González (Adrián Guerrero, min 60).

Deportivo: Rodrigo Leiva, Vergara, Xabi Campos (Jorge Vega, min 90), Samuel, Abel Regueira (David Fernández, min 55), Balbas (Nicolás Ruiz, min 55), Lucas Castro, Iker Gil (Miguel de Labra, min 77), Álvaro, Lucas Regueiro (Leandro, min 55), Pablo García (Iker Fernández, min 75).

Goals: Álex González (min 41), Nuhu Fofana (67’, 112’) // Pablo García (min 59), Xabi Campos (83').

Referee: Álvaro Sahelices, assistant referees Javier Gurpegui and Jaime González. Yellow card for Pedro Villar from Barça and David Fernández and David Vergara from Deportivo.

Attendance: 3,000 (match played in Lugo).

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