Barcelona began the defence of their Copa del Rey title at Guadalajara, a team from the Primera Federacion – Group 1, the Spanish third tier.
The hosts are currently 17th in a 20-team division, with 17 points from their 16 games, and only four league wins all season long.
Though they would therefore start the fixture as clear underdogs, it had been shown in previous editions of the tournament that if the big boys are too complacent, some stunning upsets often occur as a result.
Hansi Flick named Marc-Andre ter Stegen in his starting XI and also made a number of other changes, whilst still keeping a good balance of experience and youth.
The German was clearly looking to send the best possible message to culers and the club’s board as to just how seriously the Catalans are taking this tournament again.
Let’s take a look at three talking points from the game….
Classy showing from Jofre
The soon-to-be 19-year-old Jofre Torrents was finally given a chance to show what he had in his locker in this game.
Though the standard of the opponent will always be taken into account, it shouldn’t be overlooked at just how confident the left-back seemed in possession, even under the most intense pressure.
So often, young players want to impress and think that ‘Hollywood’ balls across the pitch are the way to do just that, but each of Jofre’s passes was played with purpose and played simply.
He didn’t once look out of place, and it was a classy showing that gives Flick some food for thought for the future, for example, if Alejandro Balde goes off the boil for a period of time, or is injured.
Another 90 minutes for Yamal
Lamine Yamal was once again in the starting XI for Barcelona and played the whole game yet again. Flick was eager to rest some of his big hitters for this game, such as Raphinha and Pedri, but certainly not Yamal.
The teenager’s pubalgia issues have been well-documented this season but it seems it’s not stopping him from racking up the minutes since returning to action. The big fear is the lack of rest will come back to haunt Yamal and Barca at some point, but let’s keep our fingers crossed that is not the case.
The teenager went on to have a fairly frustrating night and found himself marked out of the game for long periods by Guadalajara, until he popped up late on with an assist for Rashford to kill the tie.
That’s now a very tidy 10 assists in 19 games in all competitions for Barcelona so far this season from the teenager.
Not pretty at times, but job done
You couldn’t say the match was one of Barca’s best of recent times, but that’s as much down to a super backs-against-the-wall performance from the hosts as it was the Catalans’ insouciance.
Guadalajara made life difficult by narrowing the pitch and getting bodies in the way at every opportunity, and that ensured the game was anything but a decent spectacle.
Arguably, the third-tier outfit was always going to try to bring the visitors down to their level, and but for a wicked deflection off Andreas Christensen’s header – and a late Marcus Rashford strike when the hosts still looked for an equaliser – they might have pulled off one of the great all-time Copa shocks.
In the end, the job was completed by Barca, and surely all that matters is it’s their name in the hat for the next round.
