Copa del Rey 17/18: Real Murcia 0-3 Barcelona; 5 Talking Points
Barcelona, without Messi, Suarez, and many of their top guns, travelled to face third-tier Segunda B side Real Murcia in the first leg of the round of 32 Copa del Rey tie.
In an extremely mismatched game, Barcelona struggled to break the resolute Murcia defence and failed to create any clear chances in the first 43 minutes. The breakthrough came in the dying minutes of the first half when Alcacer heads a super Deulofeu cross into the corner to give Barca 1-0 lead going into the break.
Barcelona started the second half from where they left off and struck twice in a matter of 10 minutes to kill the hopes of a home side come-back. It was all Barcelona till the end as they beat the Segunda B side 3-0.
Let's see the 5 talking points from last night's Copa del Rey tie:
#5 Real Murcia were made to pay for missing their first-half chances
Barcelona started to dominate possession right from the word go. First real chance of the game fell for the home side but Elady Zorilla failed to connect with the ball at the far post and missed a glorious chance to score.
Though the away side dominated possession, good chances came the way of the home side. Molinero teed up Llorente but his effort went over the crossbar as Murcia missed another excellent opportunity to take the lead.
They were eventually punished for their missed chances as Alcacer put Barcelona in the lead, just minutes before the break. He headed home a cross from Deulofeu to break the hearts of spirited Murcia supporters.