Lewandowski brace helps Barca beat Barbastro in Copa del Rey

Barcelona kicked off their Copa del Rey campaign with a 4-0 win at fourth-tier Barbastro on Saturday to progress into the last 16, with striker Robert Lewandowski scoring either side of the break.

Defender Eric Garcia put Barca in front with a bullet header in the 21st minute before Lewandowski nodded home from close range 10 minutes later.

The Poland striker added a third goal two minutes into the second half with a simple low finish from near the penalty spot and Pablo Torre made it 4-0 after capitalising on an error by Barbastro goalkeeper Arnau Fabrega.

“We had to start the year like this,” coach Hansi Flick told a press conference.

“We were very good in defence. We didn’t give our rivals any chance.”

The win saw Flick reach the 100th victory of his managerial career while Barcelona emergency signing Wojciech Szczesny made his debut in goal for the club.

Former Poland keeper Szczesny came out of retirement when he joined the LaLiga giants in October to replace the injured Marc-Andre Ter Stegen but had to wait to make his debut while his rival between the posts Inaki Pena maintained good form.

Barcelona took the lead when defender Ronald Araujo nodded on a long pass inside the box by Frenkie De Jong for Garcia to net into a bottom corner.

Araujo was making his season debut after suffering a hamstring injury in July during the Copa America.

“Ronald was injured but today we saw that he is fine,” Flick said. “We have to be careful with him but he played well for 90 minutes. He is a leader, a captain. It’s good to have him.”

The hosts thwarted many of the visitors’ attempts but Lewandowski, LaLiga’s top scorer with 16 goals, doubled the lead after the ball deflected off a defender.

The 36-year-old added another goal after the break as Barcelona continued to dominate possession, with around 80% throughout the game.

Torre sealed the win in the 56th minute, calmly scoring after home keeper Fabrega failed to find one of his defenders with a low pass which ended up at the feet of the Barca midfielder instead.

Barcelona, who face Athletic Bilbao in a Spanish Super Cup semi-final on Wednesday, rested forward Raphinha, while midfielder Marc Casado and defender Alejandro Balde remained on the bench.

Aragonian club Barbastro sit 16th in Group Two of the Segunda Federacion. The two teams met at the same stage of the Copa del Rey last year when Barcelona won 3-2.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid advanced past third-division club Marbella thanks to a 16th-minute winner by Antoine Griezmann.

It was the 13th win in a row for Diego Simeone’s team across all competitions, tying the club’s record.

Sevilla was ousted by second-division club Almeria 4-1 despite taking the lead five minutes into the match through Isaac Romero.

Marko Milovanovic equalized for Almeria and Luis Suárez scored a hat trick to send the hosts through.

Defending champion Athletic Bilbao needed penalty kicks to get past fourth-division club Logrones.

Athletic won 4-3 in the shootout after a 0-0 draw in regulation and extra time. Osasuna advanced by beating Tenerife 2-1 and Real Betis eliminated Huesca 1-0 thanks to a first-half goal by Isco.

Earlier, Barcelona’s request to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor for the rest of the season was denied again by the Spanish league and federation on Saturday.

The players were registered only through the end of 2024 and Barcelona failed to meet the league’s financial fair-play rules by the end-of-year deadline.

The league and the federation said in a joint statement that even though Barcelona eventually was able to meet the salary-cap rules, the players can’t be registered again after already having been dropped because of the missed deadline.

Flick said before the 4-0 win over fourth-division club Barbastro in the Copa del Rey that he spoke with Olmo and the player reiterated his desire to keep playing for Barcelona.

Agencies