Copa del Rey
Result: FC Barcelona 3-0 Levante (4-2 agg.)
Date: 17 January 2019
Venue: Camp Nou
Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele played starring roles as FC Barcelona cruised to the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey on Thursday evening.
After suffering a 2-1 defeat in the first leg last week, Ernesto Valverde went for a stronger line up as Lionel Messi, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal were included.
The home side came out firing in the first half as Messi and Coutinho went close with efforts from distance in the opening 20 minutes.
Barca were soon ahead as Messi played in Ousmane Dembele, but the ball bounce off Sergio Postigo and back onto the Frenchman before crossing the line on 30 minutes.
The lead was doubled a minute later as Messi turned provider once again to pick out Dembele, who rounded goalkeeper Aitor Fernández before slotting into the empty net.
Levante, meanwhile, were a shadow of the side that stunned Barca in the first leg as they were unable to trouble goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen.
Barca bagged a third goal ten minutes into the second half as Messi collected a pass from Nelson Semedo before slotting into the bottom corner to make 4-2 on aggregate.
Despite leading by three goals on the night, Valverde decided to introduce Luis Suarez for the final 25 minutes as the Uruguayan came on for Coutinho.
Levante showed a little attacking intent in the remaining stages of the half, but none of their attack really threatened Cillessen.
In the end, 3-0 was how the result ended on the night as the Catalan giants won the tie 4-2 on aggregate to advance to the last eight.
Other results:
Real Sociedad 2-2 Real Betis (2-2 on agg. - Betis advance on away goals rule.)
Espanyol 3-1 Villarreal (5-3 on agg - Espanyol advance)
