Eric Garcia, first goalscorer of the year
He scored the first goal in the last 32 Copa del Rey match, and in doing so, Eric Garcia became the first goalscorer of this year for the blaugranes. He follows Ferran Torres (2024), Ronald Araujo (2023), Luuk de Jong (2022), Frenkie de Jong (2021), Luis Suárez (2020) and Leo Messi (2019) as the most recent first goalscorers in previous calendar years.
The Catalan made the most of a superb assist by the returning Ronald Araujo in the 21st minute to make it 0-1 against Barbastro. The number 24's goal was followed by three more – a brace by Lewandowski and one by Pablo Torre.
Biggest goal differential in last ten years
The 4-0 scoreline meant Barça both went through to the last 16 and won the first game of the year by the biggest goal differential over the last ten years. The blaugranes hadn't managed to win the calendar year's first fixture by four clear goals since 5 January 2014, which was in LaLiga, with Elche defeated 4-0. The blaugranes did manage to score four against Intercity in the 2023 Copa del Rey two years ago, but the Valencian side scored three themselves.