Barcelona have been made to work surprisingly laborious for his or her place within the spherical of 16 of the Copa del Rey by fourth-tier facet Barbastro on Sunday night.
Goals from Fermin Lopez and Raphinha had given Barca a 2-0 lead earlier than Barbastro striker Adria de Mesa made it 2-1 and Isreal Garcia got here inside a whisker of levelling for the house facet.
Penalties for both facet – scored by Robert Lewandowski and Marc Prat – late within the recreation ensured that the sport would end 3-2, and Xavi Hernandez’s facet would embarrassingly narrowly progress to the subsequent spherical of the competitors.
How the sport unfolded
As anticipated, Barcelona totally dominated their fourth tier opposition within the opening exchanges, they usually did not have to attend too lengthy earlier than taking the lead.
The opening objective would come courtesy of Fermin Lopez, who ghosted into the field unmarked to fireplace house a low cross from Raphinha.
Fermin turned supplier within the fortieth minute when, after racing down the best flank, he chipped a pleasant cross into the trail of the unmarked Jaoa Felix on the again submit. The Portuguese worldwide would duly convert along with his first time half-volley, nonetheless the objective was chalked off for offside.
Amazingly, it could be Barbastro who’d create the subsequent notable probability of the sport, spurning a chance to make 1-1 within the opening moments of the second half.
Said probability would fall to midfielder Gonpi when the ball deflected kindly into his path within the penalty space. After controlling properly nonetheless, the midfielder was unable to get a lot buy on his subsequent effort on objective, seeing Inaki Pena comfortably collect the shot on his line.
The fourth-tier facet have been made to rue that miss moments later, when Barca went up the opposite finish and made it 2-0. Raphinha stole in on the again submit to side-foot house an exquisite whipped cross from teenager Hector Fort within the fiftieth minute.
Barbastro shockingly managed to scale back arrears ten minutes later, when striker Adria de Mesa capitalised on a implausible set piece supply from Gonpi to flick house a well-known objective in entrance of a rampant house crowd on the Estadio Municipal de Deportes.
The house facet got here near levelling late within the recreation, with Isreal Garcia heading simply extensive after being discovered utterly unmarked with a cross contained in the penalty space.
After that scare, Bara have been lastly in a position to put the sport to mattress within the 87th minute. Substitute Robert Lewandowski transformed a penalty after a handball within the field to make it 3-1.
Soon after, debutant Vitor Roque missed an amazing probability to make his maiden Barca outing with a objective. The Brazilian burst previous the Barbastro defence with ease, however was unable to beat Arnau Fabregas along with his ensuing side-footed effort on objective.
In added time, Barbastro have been rewarded a penalty of their very own when Fermin fouled within the field. Up stepped 23-year-old Marc Prat to take the spot kick, and he made no mistake with it – thumping it into the roof of the web.
GK: Inaki Pena – 4/10 – Couldn’t do an excessive amount of in regards to the objectives Barca conceded.
RB: Jules Kounde – 6/10 – Worked means more durable defensively than he was maybe anticipating too, profitable 10 duals and making three interceptions.
CB: Ronald Araujo – 4/10 – De Mesa bought one of the best of him on a number of too many events.
CB: Andreas Christensen – 6/10 – Like his defensive teammates, he labored more durable than anticipated. The ex-Chelsea man did properly although, profitable 100% of his duals within the recreation.
LB: Hector Fort – 7/10 – The teenager performed an exquisite cross into the again submit space to arrange Raphinha’s objective. He’s good in Football Manager for a cause.
CM: Frenkie de Jong – 6/10 – A cool head in the midst of the park for Barca.
CM: Oriol Romeu – 3/10 – Off the tempo for a lot of the sport, and solely accomplished 81% of his often sideways passes.
CM: Fermin Lopez – 7/10 – A relentless risk along with his runs from midfield. Deserved his objective.
RW: Raphinha – 8/10 – Caused issues along with his trickery out extensive, and bagged a objective and an help for his facet.
ST: Ferran Torres – 2/10 – Didn’t impact the sport in any means.
LW: Joao Felix – 2/10 – Scored an offside objective (that wasn’t offside), however was largely ineffective thereafter.
Substitutes
SUB: Vitor Roque (64′ for Raphinha) – 5/10 – Missed an excellent probability after being launched.
SUB: Inigo Martinez (64′ for Christensen) – N/A
SUB: Ilkay Gundogan (72′ for Romeu) – 5/10
SUB: Robert Lewandowski (72′ for Felix) – 6/10 – Won and scored an necessary penalty.
SUB: Sergi Roberto (75′ for Martinez) – N/A
Manager – Xavi Hernandez – 2/10 – His workforce ought to have put Barbastro to the sword on Sunday, they usually did not. Questions must be requested about Barca’s toothlessness within the remaining third.
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