Category World News

Jules Kounde’s powerful extra-time strike gave Barcelona a 3-2 victory over rival Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey Clasico final.

The Catalans won the first major trophy of Hansi Flick’s tenure as coach on Saturday in a dramatic manner, aiming for a quadruple this year.

Barcelona equaled with two Real Madrid goals in seven second-half minutes, scored by Pedri and scored by Pedri at La Cartuja.

However, Kounde fired home in the 84th minute to make it a winner for the LaLiga leaders after Ferran Torres scored to make it a winner in extra time.

Antonio Rudiger, a substitute for Antonio Rudiger at Madrid, was shown the yellow card in the final seconds for making an appearance to throw objects onto the field in front of the referee.

After suffering an ankle injury, Madrid started with top scorer Mbappe on the bench. Left-back Ferland Mendy suffered a thigh injury, which set him up for the first six weeks of play.

Fran Garcia was hired by Carlo Ancelotti to hang Lamine Yamal, Barcelona’s dazzling teenage winger, in place.

As Barca kept getting closer to Thibaut Courtois’ goal, the 17-year-old Spain star, who dyed his hair blond for the game, burst past him quickly.

The Catalans controlled the ball, which won the LaLiga and the Spanish Super Cup the first two times this year and scored nine goals in the process.

After 28 minutes, Pedri drilled the ball into the top corner with precision and power from the edge of the box.

A clever Pau Cubarsi interception in his own half gave the offence.

Yamal cut inside and held the ball up until the Canary Islander reached the box with a sight of goal as Pedri spread the play out to him on the right.

Barcelona’s opener broke Madrid’s defense, which had already been a goal, and also allowed Mbappe to recover from the bench to warm up.

Vinicius Junior would have won a penalty if Jude Bellingham had started and finished a strong move but he was offside as a result of Inigo Martinez’s hacked him down and he had also sped off in the build-up.

With Dani Olmo’s corner evading several players and bouncing off the far post, Barcelona could have doubled their lead, but Cubarsi was unable to reach him as Dani Ceballos held him back.

Madrid referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea was lenient with some heated tackles, perhaps as a result of Friday’s drama, in which the Spanish champions wept at his pre-game remarks criticizing the club’s television channel’s conduct.

At half-time, Madrid sent Mbappe for Rodrigo Goes, and they soon started working on Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, with Vinicius and Mbappe coming close.

In the 70th minute, Mbappe almost equalized for Madrid.

Frenkie de Jong brought the striker down on the edge of the box after he advanced forward. Mbappe fired a low effort into the post after taking the free kick on himself.

Tchouameni found space for himself to head home from Arda Guler’s corner past the helpless Szczesny after seven minutes as Madrid took the lead.

When Yamal played a delicious pass over the top to Torres, which attracted both Courtois and Rudiger, the Spaniard got there first and headed home.

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Unsurprisingly, conflict appeared before the game entered extra time.

When Rudiger appeared to have brought down Torres, Barcelona clamored for a penalty before Raphinha’s pressure-assisted penalty fell to Raul Asencio, who was then awarded one last time in stoppage time.

However, the Brazilian was given a diving penalty by the referee after VAR called to review the incident.

Barcelona gained momentum as they searched for a potential winner in extra time.

When Kounde intercepted a strangely loose Luka Modric pass and beat Courtois with a powerful low effort from outside the box, which sparked wild celebrations, they eventually discovered it.

The teams meet again in LaLiga in May in a match that could decide the title race because of Rudiger’s dismissal and Madrid’s pre-match histrionics regarding the refereeing team.

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Pakistan, which it has blamed on Islamabad for the killings of tourists in India-administered Kashmir, has demanded a “neutral” investigation and said it was in favor of peace.

Although Islamabad has denied any involvement in the attack on Tuesday that left 25 Indians and one national of Nepal dead, India has identified two of the three suspected attackers as Pakistanis.

Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, stated on Saturday that “Pakistan is fully prepared to cooperate with any neutral investigators to ensure that the truth is exposed and justice is served.”

Pakistan will not compromise its sovereignty, he declared at a press conference. “Pakistan continues to be committed to peace, stability, and the upholding of international standards.”

Shehbaz Sharif, the country’s prime minister, said, “This perpetual blame game must come to an end.

The attackers, according to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be pursued to “the ends of the earth,” and those responsible for planning and carrying out the attack will be punished beyond their imagination.

Meanwhile, Pakistani politicians and other parties are making increasingly hostile demands.

India and Pakistan took a number of measures against one another following the attack, including suspending the Indus River and its tributaries, and closing Pakistan’s airspace to Indian airlines.

After four years of relative calm, the two parties have exchanged fire across their de facto border for two straight days.

The Indian Army reported responding to “unprovoked” small arms fire from a number of Pakistan Army posts along the de facto Kashmir border, which is 740 kilometers (460 miles) long, that started at midnight on Friday. No injuries were reported.

The exchange of fire has not yet been commented upon by Pakistan’s military.

Former Pakistani diplomat Maleeha Lodhi claimed there was “a sombre mood” in Pakistan and that there was a lot of uncertainty about what might transpire next.

There are fears, especially given Prime Minister Modi’s speeches and the Indian media, because the nuclear neighbors are on the verge of a more dangerous conflict, according to Lodhi.

The former ambassador emphasized that India may engage in “kinetic action” against Pakistan as a result of this rhetoric.

She said that would necessitate a very strong, robust response from Pakistan.

According to Lodhi, “the fear and apprehension are really focused on the possibility that we may be in the middle of a serious crisis.”

As tensions between India and Pakistan escalate, residents of Jammu and Kashmir’s border village R S Pura have begun clearing out community bunkers.

“We live in border regions,” we say. Our communities will be the first to be affected by whatever happens in India, said Balvir Kaur, a resident.

“We are getting ready if there is a problem,” he says. Without having to consider the safety of its citizens living close to India, the government would not need to consider this. We don’t want them to suffer as a result.

It’s time to give diplomacy another chance, according to an editorial from Pakistan’s Dawn news outlet on Saturday, because neither Pakistan nor India can afford war.

The editorial continued, “These are dangerous times in the subcontinent, and Pakistan and India must show restraint and sense in handling the post-Pahalgam developments.”

At least five suspected rebels in Kashmir have been demolished, including one they believe was involved in the most recent attack, while Indian security forces have continued their search for the suspects.

One such house in Murram village in the Pulwama district was dumped with pieces of broken glass on Saturday. In the previous three years, locals claimed they had not witnessed Ehsan Ahmed Sheikh, a suspected fighter whose home had been destroyed.

Sameer Ahmed, a neighbor, told Reuters: “Nobody knows where he is.”

The home of Ehsan’s family has been destroyed. Not him, but they will suffer as a result.