A close to full strength Barcelona side made hard work of Thursday night’s Copa del Rey win over third tier side Unionistas de Salamanca, coming from a goal behind.
Xavi, who is coming under increasing pressure in the wake of last weekend’s comprehensive Supercopa de Espana defeat to Real Madrid, opted to leave Robert Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan out of his starting lineup in favour of handing opportunities to Marc Guiu and Fermin Lopez.
The rest of his team was arguably as strong as it could have been, yet it was Unionistas who struck first through Alvaro Gomez around half an hour in. The winger struck high past Inak Pena, continuing to deputise for Marc-Andre ter Stegen, at the near post.
Barca were back on level terms by half-time when Ferran Torres found the equaliser just before the break. Pau Cubarsi got the chance to replace Andreas Christensen for the second half, but the illustrious away side were struggling to create the chances to get ahead and Xavi opted for a triple substitution at the hour mark, putting Lewandowski, Gundogan and Pedri all into the mix.
The extra oomph ultimately paid off, although it was two players that started the game who got the goals to deliver the 3-1 win in the end – and both defenders too. Jules Kounde let fly from distance to put his team ahead, before Alejandro Balde smashed the ball into the roof of the net from a tight angle a matter of minutes later to five Barca some breathing room and relief.
Late chances for both sides, including a top save from Pena in the 90th minute, didn’t add to the score-line and Barca have advanced to the quarter-finals once again.
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