Barbastro 0-4 FC Barcelona: Comfortably through
FC Barcelona are through to the last sixteen of the Copa del Rey after a comfortable victory over lower league outfit Barbastro on Saturday.
A rather lop-sided affair only ever looked like having one winner with goals from Eric García, Robert Lewandowski (2) and Pablo Torre securing a 4-0 win that is the ideal send-off for the players, who will now be jetting off to Saudi Arabia to play in the Spanish Super Cup.
The draw for the next round, also to be played over a single leg, is next Wednesday 8 and the matches themselves are being played the week after.
New faces
There were already two highlights in Hansi Flick’s starting XI. The first was the presence of Wojciech Szczęsny in goal for the very first time and the second was the return from a 181-day absence injury of Ronald Araujo, and wearing the captain’s armband no less.
What’s more, Ansu Fati made his own comeback from a fitness issue as a second half substitute. And towards the end of the game, Barça Atlètic’s16-year-old Toni Fernandez came on for his first ever minutes with the senior team, and in his short time on pitch managed to get involved in a number of promising plays.
The only downside of Barça’s commanding display is that Szczęsny never really got the chance to show us what he is made of. The Polish stopper barely had to make a single intervention of consequence as Barça utterly dominated an opponent that plays four tiers below them in Segunda Federación.
Eric heads opener
But Araujo made an immediate impact. Moments after having a great chance brilliantly saved by the home keeper, the Uruguayan rose to meet a Frenkie de Jong’s long cross and set up a diving header from Eric García to score Barça’s first goal of 2025 on 21 minutes.
While Barbastro had put up an impressive fight in this same fixture 12 months earlier, this time they were very much made to look second best. The playing surface wasn’t perfect, but Barça were circulating the ball at ease and turning almost every possession into chances. Ten minutes after taking the lead, Lewandowski doubled up by heading home a Pablo Torre free kick.
The Barbastro supporters may have been dreaming of a cupset all week, but the way Barça were controlling this game, the chances of that happening were already looking slim when a third goal as good as ended the contest with 45 minutes of football still to play.
Fermin Lopez, who had already hit the crossbar earlier threaded an assist to Lewandowski, and the Pole’s composed finish made it 3-0.
All under control
And then a horrendous error from the home goalkeeper left Pablo Torre alone with the ball in front of goal, and free to tap home the easiest goal he is ever likely to score. Now it was four. A gift of a goal, maybe, but thoroughly deserved by a player whose performance this evening will surely have made an impression on Hansi Flick.
From there on, it was just a question of playing out the final minutes. Barbastro were outclassed in their attempts to at least delight their fans with a consolation goal, and despite a heavily rotated bench, Barça continued to press for a fifth that never came.
The game did produced one moment of major concern when Iñigo Martinez clashed heads with Jaime Ara of the home side. The latter came off the worst and was stretchered off to an ovation from the home fans. Here at Barça we also wish the player a rapid recovery.
And on a cheerier note, we also wish all the best to Barbastro's Israel Garcia, who following the final whistle went over and proposed to his girlfriend! That's not something we get too often in Barça matches!
Next stop for Barça, Saudi Arabia!