Barcelona eased into the last eight of the Copa del Rey with a 2-0 victory over Espanyol, progressing 6-1 on aggregate.
With the tie effectively settled in the first leg, both managers made plenty of changes to their usual starting elevens. But Barca boss Luis Enrique did select Lionel Messi, and the five-time Ballon d’Or winner helped make the difference by producing a sublime pass to allow Munir El Haddadi to open the scoring.
From that moment any hopes of an unlikely Espanyol comeback were truly dead, and after a relatively uneventful second half Munir completed the scoring in the final stages.
There had been plenty of tension surrounding the game as the two local rivals met for the third time in less than a fortnight, especially following an ill-tempered first leg which saw two Espanyol players sent off and Luis Suarez later suspended for comments made to opposition players after the game.
But although the return leg featured plenty of sturdy challenges, there was none of the nastiness or major flashpoints which had been evident in the first leg as Barca eased through.
Espanyol started brightly, playing with plenty of intensity in the opening minutes as on-loan Real Madrid winger Marco Asensio led the charge and fired an early effort over the top. But Barcelona gradually asserted themselves and Messi fired a warning shot with a fierce strike from a corner which home keeper Francesco Bardi did well to push away.
With the visitors now on top, Messi’s right-wing cross saw Munir head wide and then the Argentine embarked upon a mazy dribble before attempting a deft curler which Bardi tipped wide.
Barcelona have never been behind in the score in the 8 games they have played at Espanyol's Cornella stadium #fcblive [via @fcb_datos]
— barcastuff (@barcastuff) January 13, 2016The increasingly threatened opener arrived just after the half hour mark, when Messi – making a rare appearance in his old ‘false nine’ position – dropped deep to find space in midfield before sliding a perfectly weighted pass into the stride of Munir, who rounded Bardi before slotting home.
Espanyol had a chance to level before the break when Felipe Caicedo raced through, but Marc-Andre ter Stegen stood his ground to tip over well. Caicedo continued his quest to get Espanyol back on level terms early in the second half, running onto a through ball and attempting to round ter Stegen but seeing the German keeper make a well-timed challenge.
Caicedo forced another save from the Barca stopper with a low left-footed strike, but that was the last time Espanyol seriously threatened as the visitors re-established the control they had enjoyed in the latter stages of the opening period.
The game started to meander aimlessly during the final stages, until Barca doubled their lead after Javier Mascherano made a great challenge in midfield to set up a counter-attack, which saw Messi and Arda Turan find Aleix Vidal, whose low cross gave Munir – who was perhaps offside – a simple close-range tap-in, sending the cup holders into the last eight.
