Barcelona vs. Espanyol (2-0) Copa Del Rey 2nd Leg Review - 25 January 2018

Barcelona vs. Espanyol (2-0) Copa Del Rey 

2nd Leg Review - 25 January 2018

Messi and Suarez - Happy Hunting in Pairs

Espanyol are a tough and physical team. They came in with a 1st leg advantage of an 1–0 win.

But it was made into a no big deal by the same guy who missed a penalty in the 1st leg - Lionel Messi with his awesome and dominant display. It was as if he came out with a point to prove and he did it in the most emphatic manner.

Before the game started, the Camp Nou bid an emotional goodbye to their little chief Mascherano.

FC Barcelona were more aggressive than usual and pegged Espanyol back. They kept attacking on all fronts and Messi was all over the Espanyol defense. After about 8 minutes, Messi made a fantastic run and passed the ball to Aleix Vidal on the right who gave a fantastic cross to Luis Suarez who headed on target to score the first goal. The advantage that Espanyol had from the 1st leg was nullified. Game on! Iniesta and Busquets were impeccable while Pique and Umtiti, along with Rakitic were solid at the back.

Th lenient referee overlooked a number of fouls, as Espanyol continued to hack away on the Barca team, who were becoming very difficult to control. Tempers flared and Luis Suarez and Messi were booked for dissent. Then Messi raced in and controlled a ball that was going towards the right, turned back and fired it on target, which found the net after being deflected off the Espanyol player Naldo. Game over as Barcelona went up 2-0.

In the 2nd half, new addition Coutinho made his debut as he replaced, an almost perfect, Iniesta. He impressed a lot in his little cameo as he played some wonderful passes and showed some deft touch. Looked like this guy was in the team for ages now. Though it was a good debut, it will not be an easy road ahead for the talented little Brazilian. But his temperament and skills should definitely help in becoming an integral part of the team in quick time.

Espanyol did show some aggression in the last 10 minutes, but the solid defense of Barca were able to fend it off successfully. Barca despite creating a number of chances were wasteful when it came to the actual finishing. They could have easily scored at least 3-4 more goals.

Overall a dominant display by the title holders and despite the 2-0 win, the scoreboard was not a reflection of the overall supremacy of FC Barcelona. Job done - but not well done.