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COPA DEL REY

Cultural 0-1 Barcelona Copa del Rey: match report

Clement Lenglet came off the bench to head home late on in the Copa del Rey clash as Barcelona take the lead back to Camp Nou for the second leg.

Update:
LEON, SPAIN - OCTOBER 31: Clement Lenglet (2-R) of FC Barcelona celebrates with teammates after scoring the first goal of his team during the Spanish Copa del Rey match between Cultural Leonesa and FC Barcelona at Estadio Reino de Leon on October 31, 2018
Octavio PassosGetty Images

Cultural 0-1 Barcelona: match report

Barcelona scraped by Cultural Leonesa on Wednesday night in the Copa del Rey as Ernesto Valverde rang the changes to rest many of his players after their exploits in El Clásico.

The team Valverde picked has lenty of B team players with Malcom and Dembele offered starts along with Munir and Arturo Vidal.

Cultural, whos sit 5th in their Segunda B group, came out fighting although it looked like Barcelona would dominated possession and it would be a purely counter-attacking effort from the home side.

That wasn't the case though as Barca lost control of the game after the opening exchanges and Cultural had plenty of opportunities to open the scoring with Barça looking less dangerous as the game half continued. 

Sergi Samper had to go off and he left the field distraught with Aleña replacing him. The injury prone midfielder will be wondering what he has to do to catch a break after another unfortunate injury.

Barcelona were keen to score an away goal and pushed everything forward in the second. Saul Gonzalez had the best chance of the half for Cultural. Cillessen palmed over his strike from outside the box and after that, Barcelona took over.

Munir blazed over as Barcelona looked more likely with more possession, more chances and more men inside their opponents' half of the field.

It would take a set-piece header from Lenglet, the sub, to break the deadlock in injury time as Barcelona take an away goal and a 1-0 lead back to the Camp Nou for the second leg.

Cultural vs Barcelona: live updates

Cultural vs Barcelona: Preview

Barcelona open their Copa del Rey campaign with a visit to Second Division B side Cultural Leonesa at the Estadio Municipal Reino de León on Wednesday night.

After the 5-1 thrashing of Real Madrid on Sunday, and ties against Rayo (LaLiga) and Inter (Champions League) coming up, coach Ernesto Valverde will be expected to rest a number of regulars for this game, which will give several youngsters an opportunity to earn some all-important minutes. But even a much weakened Barcelona side will be tipped to easily overcome the León minnows in both legs of the tie, as the Blaugrana go in search of their fifth consecutive Copa del Rey title.

Currently sitting in fourth in Second Division B, Cultural Leonesa, meanwhile, will just hope for a better showing than their last Copa del Rey clash with Barcelona. The two sides last met in 2009, with Barcelona winning 7-0 on aggregate (2-0 away, 5-0 at home).