Madrid: A much-changed Barcelona made light work of third-tier Real Murcia to take a commanding 3-0 lead into the second leg of their Copa del Rey last-32 tie on Tuesday night.
With the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta handed the night off, Paco Alcacer, Gerard Deulofeu and Jose Manuel Arnaiz, on his debut, took their chance to grab the goals for the holders.
Barca have now won 12 and drawn one of their last 13 games in all competitions, but took their time to break down their humble hosts.
Indeed, Murcia should have gone in front when Fernando Llorente blasted over from inside the area midway through the first half.
Alcacer headed home his first goal since netting in last season’s Cup final a minute before half-time from Deulofeu’s looping cross.
The former Everton winger scored his first Barca goal against Malaga at the weekend and quickly added a second with a fine individual run and finish seven minutes after the break.
Arnaiz was the only one of Barca’s youngsters, who have shone for Barca B this season in the second division, a tier above Murcia, to be handed a debut by Ernesto Valverde from the start.
And the 22-year-old showed why when he cut inside to fire into the far corner from outside the area four minutes later.
Jasper Cillessen then produced a stunning double save 19 minutes from time to deny Murcia even a consolation.
With the second leg at the Camp Nou in just over a month’s time now a formality, Barca can concentrate on maintaining their four-point La Liga lead and securing a place in the last 16 of the Champions League before the cup continues in January.
“He is a player who is daring, very good one-on-one, and it’s good for him to score on his debut and to help the team,” Valverde said of Arnaiz.
Barcelona opened its defence of the cup title without stars Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez, while defender Thomas Vermaelen and goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen played their first minutes of the season for the Catalan club.
“We are happy because we were playing with players from the reserve team and with some who don’t play very much,” Valverde said. “Once we scored, we were able to wear them down and get two more goals and several more chances.”
Valencia, Barca’s closest challengers in La Liga, continued their fine form as Rodrigo and Dani Parejo from the penalty spot struck in the final nine minutes to secure a 2-0 first-leg lead at Real Zaragoza.
