Qualifying The Top 16 Of The Copa Del Rey, Barcelona Work Hard To Get Rid Of The Fourth Division Team

Striker Robert Lewandowski (center) celebrates the goal that determines Barcelona's victory over Babastro in the Copa del Rey. (X/@FCBarcelona)

JAKARTA - Barcelona must work hard to get rid of the fourth division team Babastro in the last 32 of the Copa del Rey. Barca qualified for the round of 16 after a narrow 3-2 win over their opponents in the match at the Municipal de Deportes Stadium, Monday, January 8 in the morning WIB. Babastro is no different from the amateur team. They competed in the RFEF Segunda Division or fourth caste in the Spanish league.

It takes a very hard effort with the support of funds large enough for Babastro to launch promotional ambitions and compete in La Liga Spain. And, it took them years to step on the highest caste.

It's just that facing opponents with qualities far below Barca, coach Xavi Hernandez continues to field the best squad.

However, Xavi also slipped a young star from the La Masia academy. Defender Hector Fort, who strengthened Spain U-17 competing in the U-17 World Cup 223 which was held in Indonesia, again had the opportunity to become a starter.

But his colleague Marc Guiu was not included in the squad and Pau Cubarsi sat on the bench but Xavi didn't play. Instead, the new player Vitor Roque got the chance to play again.

This young Brazilian player entered the second half replacing Raphinha. It's just that until the first two matches, Roque has not scored for the Blaugrana.

Appearing with most of the pillar players, Barca seems to have no trouble over Barbastro's resistance. Moreover, this La Liga giant has full control of the game.

Confidence in the win was easy to spot when midfielder Fermin Lopez scored Barca's first goal in the 18th minute.

However, after Fermin's goal, Los Cules had a bit of trouble adding goals. So the score 1-0 for the visitors did not change until the first 45 minutes.

In the second half, Barca still consistently pressed the Babastro defense. Their attack again paid off when Raphinha broke into the opponent's goal in the 51st minute.

But the situation began to tense for Barca after the hosts reduced their lag in the 60th minute. Adria striker De Mesa Garrido's header successfully beat goalkeeper Inaki Pena which changed the score to 2-1.

The goal seemed to spur the adrenaline of the Babastro players. Evidently, Israel defender Garcia almost equalized. But his efforts still failed.

He got another chance to score a goal. But the efforts of the two Garcia also gave no results. The pressure from the hosts had shaken Barca's game.

Luckily, when it entered the final part of the match, Barca managed to strengthen their lead from the penalty spot. Striker Robert Lewandowski changed the score to 3-1 after completing the penalty execution in 88 minutes.

The match heated up again before the final whistle sounded. Especially after Babastro again reduced the lag over Marc Prat's 90+3 minute penalty.

Unfortunately, Prat's late goal was unable to save the hosts. The remaining matches in the few minutes were not enough to help Babastro catch up. The final score 3-2 for Barca who brought the team to the last 16.