Even a youthful Barcelona side, which fielded six academy players on the night, managed to be far superior than third tier side Cultural Leonesa.

In an exhibition of the next products of the 'La Masia' production line, the home side were three goals up by half time, as the scores finished 4-1 (5-1 on aggregate) to see Barcelona through to the last sixteen of the Copa del Rey.

Two of the more experienced Barcelona starlets, Munir el Haddadi and Denis Suarez, led the first half rout.

Munir opened the scoring with a sublime curling effort on the spin, which nestled neatly in the far top corner of the goal.

Then, not to be outdone, Suarez also produced a sublime finish of his own. The midfielder jinked into the box from the left hand side, before curling a low drive into the bottom corner of the net, far beyond the outstretched hand of Palatsi in the Leonesa net.

December 5, 2018

Barcelona would be three goals to the good just before the interval, as out of favour first team player,Malcom, timed his run perfectly to nod home a chipped forward pass from Ivan Rakitic.

The visitors would get a goal back after the interval, as a sloppy piece of parrying by Jasper Cillessen gave Señé the chance to tap home from two yards out.

However, the result never really looked in doubt.

Leonesa would fight valiantly, but conceded another goal twenty minutes from time. Denis Suarez scored his second, to add a cherry on top of a three-tiered wedding cake of a performance from Barcelona.

December 5, 2018

The final scoreline of 4-1 (5-1 aggregate) reflected the gulf in class between the sides.

Barcelona would enter the last 16 draw once more, as they look to defend one of their crown's conquered last season.

In contrast, Cultural Leonesa will have to refocus their attentions on their next third division match at the weekend, with only one goal and a match worn shirt of a future star,as souvenirs of their trip to the Nou Camp.

Josep Señé

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