Into the last 16 of the Copa del Rey for Barça. It wasn't easy against CD Guadalajara at the Pedro Escartín stadium, as the hosts showed real determination to remain in the match throughout. Ultimately, the blaugranes' dominance and patience paid off, as a Christensen goal in the final quarter of an hour, plus a late goal by Rashford, sees Hansi Flick's side into the next round of the cup competition. 

Goalless first half

The game soon settled into a pattern after kick-off, with Barça controlling proceedings – to be expected given they were heavy favourites in the tie against the side from the third tier of Spanish football. All the same, the home side didn't make it easy for the current Copa del Rey champions, as they remained compact at the back and fed off the energy from their fervent support.

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HIGHLIGHTS | Guadalajara v Barça

Barça were finding it hard to make inroads and tried from distance to open the scoring, as Eric, Fermín, Christensen and Roony all had efforts to no avail. As the whistle blew, Guadalajara had got to first base, goalless at half-time.

Christensen breaks deadlock

The Guadalajara defenders may have taken centre stage in the first half, but it was time for their keeper Dani Vicente to step up early in the second, as he made two saves from efforts by Rashford.

Patience was clearly needed in the hunt for a goal and eventually it came. Frenkie de Jong crossed in from the right and there was Christensen to head towards goal. His goalbound effort was slightly diverted by a defender and the deadlock was finally broken (0-1, min 76).

This proved to be a signal for Guadalajara to go for it and they pushed up their lines, meaning the returning Ter Stegen was called into action, making a good save from a powerful shot from Mendes (min 80). However, Barça had the final say, as Lamine Yamal passed to Rashford, who rounded the keeper before firing in with his left (0-2, min 90) to confirm victory. Job done and into the Copa del Rey last 16 for Barça.

 

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