A near full power Barcelona aspect made onerous work of Thursday night time’s Copa del Rey win over third tier aspect Unionistas de Salamanca, coming from a objective behind.
Xavi, who’s coming beneath rising strain within the wake of final weekend’s complete Supercopa de Espana defeat to Actual Madrid, opted to go away Robert Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan out of his beginning lineup in favour of handing alternatives to Marc Guiu and Fermin Lopez.
The remainder of his staff was arguably as sturdy because it might have been, but it was Unionistas who struck first by Alvaro Gomez round half an hour in. The winger struck excessive previous Inak Pena, persevering with to deputise for Marc-Andre ter Stegen, on the close to put up.
Barca have been again on stage phrases by half-time when Ferran Torres discovered the equaliser simply earlier than the break. Pau Cubarsi bought the possibility to interchange Andreas Christensen for the second half, however the illustrious away aspect have been struggling to create the possibilities to get forward and Xavi opted for a triple substitution on the hour mark, placing Lewandowski, Gundogan and Pedri all into the combo.
The additional oomph in the end paid off, though it was two gamers that began the sport who bought the targets to ship the 3-1 win ultimately – and each defenders too. Jules Kounde let fly from distance to place his staff forward, earlier than Alejandro Balde smashed the ball into the roof of the web from a decent angle a matter of minutes later to 5 Barca some respiratory room and reduction.
Late possibilities for either side, together with a high save from Pena within the ninetieth minute, did not add to the score-line and Barca have superior to the quarter-finals as soon as once more.
