Skip to main content

Espanyol 0 Barcelona 2 (1-6 agg): Munir settles second leg as holders ease through

Munir scored both goals as Barcelona cruised into the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey with a 2-0 win at Espanyol on Wednesday, sealing a 6-1 aggregate success.

The holders had done most of the hard work against their city rivals by claiming a 4-1 victory in the first leg at Camp Nou.

And it was Messi - fresh off winning his fifth Ballon d'Or earlier this week - who played a starring role at Cornella-El Prat.

Messi provided Barca's main threat in front of goal in the first half and, although he was unable to find the net, he did set up Munir in the 32nd minute with a magnificent pass.

Messi was the first to test Espanyol goalkeeper Francesco Bardi, who parried away the Argentina forward's volley from just inside the area in the 11th minute.

Ter Stegen tipped Felipe Caicedo's dinked effort over after the Ecuadorian had been put through one-on-one with the German.

Caicedo got in behind the Barca defence again nine minutes into the second half only for Ter Stegen to leave him frustrated once more by sticking out a leg to preserve the visitors' advantage.