Recent Cup Debuts

Barça have defeated Alavés, L'Hospitalet, Ceuta, Cultural Leonesa, Benidorm, Alcoyano, Badalona and Zamora in the last eight competitions The last time Barça fell at the first hurdle was in the 2004/05 season when Gramenet produced a shock result

11:00PM Monday 02 Dec (GMT)

First Team

02 Dec 13

This Friday, FC Barcelona will begin the hunt for the Spanish Cup against Second Division B Cartagena

Alavés the last victim

The opening rounds of the Cup have been a happy hunting ground in recent years for Barça. A year ago, the players coached by Tito Vilanova swept aside Alavés 0-3 in Mendizorrotza and 3-1 in the Camp Nou. Strangely enough, the match against Alavés also came a few days before a match against Glasgow Celtic.

Four away wins

Under Josep Guardiola, the team won their four away matches in the opening round: L’Hospitalet in the 2011/12 season (0-1 and 1-0), Ceuta in the 2010/11 season (0-2 and 5-1), Cultural Leonesa in 2009/10 (0-2 and 5-0) and Benidorm in 2008/09 (0-1 and 1-0).

More under Rijkaard

Before Guardiola took over, Frank Rijkaard also led his players to success against Alcoyano in 2007/08 (0-3 and 2-2), Badalona in 2006/07 (1-2 and 4-0) and Zamora in 2005/06 (1-3 and 6-0).

However, the Dutch coach wasn’t able to prevent the only elimination from the Cup at the first hurdle. Then, the round consisted of a single match and Gramenet sized their chance to win 1-0. Just a year previously, Barça had beaten the same opposition 1-0.

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