Barcelona needs extra time to advance past Intercity in Copa

Anzu Fati scored the winning goal for Barcelona in the 104th minute after the Catalan club had conceded a three-time lead in a 3-3 draw.

Barcelona struggled to progress in their Copa del Rey debut on Wednesday, needing extra time to beat third division club Intercity 4-3.

Anzu Fati scored the winning goal for Barcelona in the 104th minute after the Catalan club had conceded a three-time lead in a 3-3 draw.

Oriol Solte scored a hat-trick in the southeastern Spanish city of Alicante.

Barcelona, playing without their usual starters, scored from Ronald Arajo in the fourth minute, Ousmane Dembele in the 66th minute and Rabinha in the 77th minute. Solte scored in the 59th, 74th and 86th minutes.
“The Copa is like this, we know, it’s not easy,” Arajo said. “It is important that we learn from it and correct our mistakes.”

The game was played shortly after Spain’s administrative court upheld a three-game ban for Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski in the Spanish league after ruling him out of Sunday’s league game against Atletico Madrid. He was not included in the squad for the Copa against Intercity.

The suspension was lifted by the courts after an appeal by Barcelona. The Polish striker was allowed to play in last weekend’s 1-1 league draw against Espanyol, which challenged the derby’s decision, after a surprise decision by a Madrid court temporarily lifted the suspension.

Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia and Real Betis have not played until this round as they are part of the Spanish Super Cup which starts next week.

Madrid beat fourth division club Caserino 1-0 on Tuesday.