Agence France-Presse
Barcelona, Jan 14: Barcelona ended a three-game series of bad-tempered derbies against Espanyol on top by sealing their place in the King’s Cup quarterfinals 6-1 on aggregate courtesy of a 2-0 win Wednesday at Cornella-El Prat.
Fresh from picking up his record fifth Ballon d’Or, Lionel Messi was once again Barca’s inspiration as he brilliantly picked out Munir El Haddadi to open the scoring before the youngster tapped home his second of the night later on.
There was less aggression on the field than in the previous two meetings between the sides in the past 10 days. However Espanyol could be punished for offensive banners towards Colombian popstar Shakira – the partner of Barca defender Gerard Pique – and Luis Suarez.
“Today (Wednesday) everything was a lot calmer, partly because of the result,” said Barca boss Luis Enrique. “The only game that got out of hand was the first, but I am not the one to analyse it. The second had what a derby should have and in the third it was harder for them to press us.”
Enrique handed Neymar, Pique, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta a rest, but Messi captained the side just two days after regaining his title of ‘World Player of the Year’.
Francesco Bardi produced a brilliant save to prevent the Argentine opening the scoring with a fierce volley on 11 minutes. However, the Espanyol ‘keeper was left helpless when El Haddadi galloped onto Messi’s inch-perfect through ball to round Bardi before slotting into an empty net.
With the tie clearly headed in Barca’s favour, the second half was largely a non-event, but the European champions did add a second two minutes from time when Aleix Vidal squared for El Haddadi to tap home.
