Barcelona needs extra time to advance past Intercity in Copa

By: Tales Azzoni, The Associated Press Posted: 4:47 PM CST Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023

MADRID (AP) — Barcelona struggled to advance in its Copa del Rey debut on Wednesday, needing extra time to defeat third-division club Intercity 4-3.

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MADRID (AP) — Barcelona struggled to advance in its Copa del Rey debut on Wednesday, needing extra time to defeat third-division club Intercity 4-3.

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MADRID (AP) — Barcelona struggled to advance in its Copa del Rey debut on Wednesday, needing extra time to defeat third-division club Intercity 4-3.

Ansu Fati scored the winning goal for Barcelona in the 104th minute after the Catalan club relinquished a lead three times in the 3-3 draw in regulation.

Oriol Solde scored a hat trick for the hosts in the city of Alicante in southeastern Spain.

Barcelona's Memphis Depay runs with the ball during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Intercity and Barcelona at the Ricardo Perez stadium in Alicante, Spain, Wednesday Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Barcelona, playing without some of its regular starters, scored with Ronald Araújo in the fourth minute, Ousmane Dembélé in the 66th and Raphinha in the 77th. Solde scored in the 59th, 74th and 86th minutes.

“The Copa is like this, we know it, it’s not easy,” Araújo said. “It’s important that we learn from it and correct our mistakes.”

The game was played not long after Spain’s administrative court for sports upheld a three-game suspension for Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski in the Spanish league, taking him out of the league match against Atlético Madrid on Sunday. He had not been in the squad for the Copa match against Intercity.

The suspension had been lifted by a court of disputes after an appeal by Barcelona. The Poland striker had been allowed to play in last weekend’s 1-1 league draw against Espanyol, which later challenged the result of the derby saying it was harmed by the unexpected decision by the Madrid court to temporarily lift the suspension.

Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia and Real Betis had not played until this round because they are part of the Spanish Super Cup that will begin next week.

Madrid advanced past fourth-division club Cacereño 1-0 on Tuesday.

ATLÉTICO ADVANCES

Marcos Llorente and teenager Pablo Barrios scored a goal in each half as Atlético Madrid eliminated second-division Oviedo 2-0.

Antoine Griezmann helped set up both goals for Diego Simeone’s team.

Atlético played without João Félix, Rodrigo De Paul and Stefan Savic.

OTHER RESULTS

Sevilla routed Linares Deportivo 5-0 with a hat trick by Youssef En-Nesyri, while Real Sociedad beat Logroñes 1-0 with a first-half goal by Robert Navarro.

Mallorca defeated Pontevedra 2-0 with a pair of goals in extra time after a 0-0 draw in regulation, while second-division club Alavés beat top-flight Valladolid 1-0.