The trophy holder Barcelona struggled a lot at the start of its participation in the Spanish King's Cup tournament, but still managed to move forward, sportal.bg reported.
The leader in La Liga visited third division Guadalajara and after a few difficult moments found a way to prevail 2:0 in a match from the 1/16-finals. Until a quarter of an hour before the end, the score was still 0:0, but a header by Andreas Christensen (76’) and a subsequent ricochet led to the long-awaited first goal. Then in the 90th minute, Marcus Rashford scored the second.
The modest hosts had several chances, and they needed very little to equalize for 1:1. Then, however, the starting captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who had not played since last season, intervened.
Barca coach Hansi Flick also chose to experiment, betting on Yamal in the center behind Rashford, who started as a center forward. Marc Casado acted as a right-back, and Fermin Lopez went to the left wing. After an unconvincing first half, the coach returned Yamal and Rashford to their starting positions on the wings, and Fermin moved to the center of the attack. However, since things continued to go wrong, players such as Pedri, Kunde and Kubarsi had to come in, and Yamal and Rashford, instead of getting a rest, played the full 90 minutes.
Statistically, this is the sixth consecutive victory of the Catalans in all competitions. They will end the calendar year on Sunday with a visit to third-placed Villarreal.
The match in the city of the same name started half an hour late, as there was a problem with the security of the additional stand installed, which delayed the entry of spectators into the stadium.
Surprisingly, the hosts took the first accurate shot in the 5th minute, when Ter Stegen had to save the ball that was heading just under the crossbar. The "blaugranas" responded with the same, seconds later. In this case, Eric Garcia almost put his team ahead, but Guadalajara's goalkeeper Dani Vicente managed to intervene.
In the 14th minute, Flick's players made their first dangerous move, but Yamal failed to intercept after a pass from De Jong.
In general, Guadalajara's players had retreated deep into their own half, and in forward positions they relied either on a static position or on long-range shots. The guests made many attempts to break through the defense, but this did not work at all. A shot by Fermin Lopez was the most dangerous thing in those minutes.
Even in the 45th minute, the home team's goalkeeper had to intervene after Eric Garcia was involved and intercepted with a header.
Barcelona started the second half with a clear opportunity in front of Rashford in the 48th minute, when he went out alone, but the goalkeeper saved.
After another four minutes, the Englishman once again found himself face to face with Vicente, who this time did not allow a goal.
The upswing in Barca's game quickly subsided, followed by a new stage of lack of ideas in the guests' attacks. In the 70th minute, even the Guadalajara team was close to scoring, but Andreas Christensen managed to intercept a key pass to a player who was left alone against Ter Stegen.
In the 73rd minute, Barca's defense was already overcome and a shot by Toño Calvo followed, which the goalkeeper only looked at, but unfortunately for the hosts, the ball went out of bounds.
Since things were not going well for "los cules", Pedri and Jules Kunde had to be brought on. And in the end, the goal came after Andreas Christensen was accurate in the 76th minute. In this case, however, a ricochet off the body of a home team player also helped, as it fooled the goalkeeper.
Guadalajara could have quickly equalized, after Ter Stegen had to show his qualities in the 80th and 81st minutes to save certain goals.
Then the elite team recovered and quickly took the game back to the home team's penalty area. This led to the 90th minute, when Yamal brought out Rashford, and this time he was on target for 2:0.