FC Barcelona was given a major scare in the Copa del Rey by InterCity but managed to eke out a 4-3 win in added time to progress at their opponents’ home.
In a scene similar to Real Madrid a day before, what should have been a routine outing for Xavi Hernandez’s side, turned into a drudged affair with former Barcelona junior Oriol Soldevila scoring a hat trick against his old club to peg them back thrice and sending the game into extra time.
Despite the absence of their talismanic forward Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona looked to be heading towards an easy win when Ronald Araujo put them ahead in the 4th minute.
Soldevila then drew his side level with his first goal in the 59th minute before Ousmane Dembele restored his side’s lead in the 66th.
The forward then restored parity once again with a header past Iñaki Peña but Raphinha again put Barcelona ahead for a third time.
Miraculously, Soldevila still had time to score his hat trick in the 86th minute when he finished off a quick counterattack to send the game into extra time.
Barcelona, however, took complete control against InterCity in the added minutes to keep their chances of winning another Copa del Rey alive. The visitors missed a host of chances before Ansu Fati finally put one away to complete the scoreline.
InterCity pushed forward once again towards the end but could not find the equalizer for the fourth time.
The hard-fought win against the third-tired side does not bode well for Barcelona who is due to face Atletico Madrid next in La Liga.
