FC Barcelona has made it thru to the following round of the Copa del Rey – literally “the King’s Cup”, or even more usually called the Spanish Cup in English, after a 9-0 win against Hospitalet took them to 10-0 on aggregate after their prior win. With Barcelona just back from Japan after winning the Club World Cup title coach Pep Guardiola decided to rest some of his best players leaving the squad strong on B-team talent.
Last year FC Barcelona made it thru to the final of the Copa del Rey in which the faced Real Madrid. However the Madrilians won the trophy after thrashing Barcelona 1-0. While not nearly as prestigious as the Spanish League and Champs LEague titles, Barcelona win be looking to make sure they take that title too this year if at all practicable.
However Guardiola didn’t want to chance it too much and so played Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas. However Iniesta was substituted after a collision with the Hospitalet goal keeper. His injury looks like he is going to be out of action for two weeks, which given the Christmas break should mean he did not miss too many games.
The initial half of the match was completely controlled by FC Barcelona, which you'd expect in their own stadium and after the Club World Cup win. Nonetheless the 1st opportunity came for Hospitalet when Prats headed the ball off a free kick however it went wide.
The half time whistle went with the scoreline at 5-0, but Barcelona hadn’t yet finished. The second half saw 4 more goals as Barcelona controlled possession througout. As well as goals from some of the regular players, B-team bot Tello scored twice in the match as did Cuenca. The other goals were scored by Pedro, Iniesta, Thiago (2) and Xavi. With Barcelona looking like they're on for lots more action this season, who knows how far they'll go.
You can read the full match report for FC Barcelona v Hospitalet on Simply Barcelona Tickets. Read the latest news and order FC Barcelona tickets today!