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Sports, Football

Barca edge lowly Barbastro


By Reuters
Published : 08 Jan 2024 09:03 PM

Barcelona were made to work hard against fourth-tier opponents as they booked their place in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey on Sunday with a 3-2 win at Barbastro, while Sevilla, Real Sociedad and Valencia earned narrow victories to progress.

Fermin Lopez opened the scoring for Barca in the 18th minute with a tap-in from a low cross from Raphinha, who then made it 2-0, collecting a fine long ball from young debutant Hector Fort in the 51st minute.

Despite Barcelona looking dominant, Adria de Mesa lifted the spirits of the home crowd when he capitalised on a loose ball in the box to pull one back for Barbastro in the 60th minute. Barbastro went close to equalising, before substitute Robert Lewandowski made no mistake from the penalty spot to extend Barca's lead with two minutes to go.

Barbastro's Marc Prat made it 3-2 in stoppage time also with a penalty, but the hosts could not prevent Xavi Hernandez's side sealing the win.

Elsewhere, an own goal by Einar Galilea early in the second half was enough for Real Sociedad to claim a 1-0 away win over Malaga.

LaLiga side Las Palmas were beaten 2-0 at second-tier Tenerife with first-half goals from Jose Maria Amo, who was later sent off for a second booking, and Luismi Cruz. The visitors were also reduced to 10 men after Julian Araujo was sent off in the 76th minute. Sevilla beat Racing Ferrol 2-1 thanks to a goal from Brazilian defender Marcao, who dedicated his first-half effort to his father who passed away on Saturday, and another from Juanlu Sanchez, who scored late in the game.

 Fran Manzara had equalised for Racing but received a second yellow card to be sent off in the 75th minute.

Villarreal's clash against Unionistas Salamanca was suspended after power failures at the Reina Sofia stadium. Villarreal had taken the lead with a goal from Ilias Akhomach before Alfred Planas's late penalty sent the game to extra time.

Valencia also had to dig deep to earn a 2-1 win at 10-man Cartagena after extra time, with Sergi Canos and Jose Luis Gaya scoring to send the LaLiga side into the next round despite the hosts having led most of the game.

Athletic Bilbao made light work of Eibar in a 3-0 win, with all three goals coming in the first half, as Asier Villalibre netted a brace and Iker Muniain also got on the scoreboard.