WITH LIONEL MESSI rested after his trip midweek trip to Zurich to pick up the Ballon d’Or, Barcelona cruised to victory over second division Cordoba in the Copa Del Rey tonight.
Going into the tie 2-0 up from the first leg, Barca left Messi, Victor Valdes, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets out of the starting line-up while Tito Vilanova missed out as he visited a specialist in New York about his ilness.
It took the home side 17 minutes to find the back of the net, through Thiago Alcantara, and further goals from David Villa (2) and Alexis Sanchez (2) gave them a 7-0 aggregate win.
President Sandro Rosell ruled out a the possibility of Villa making a loan move away from the Nou Camp earlier this week and, with some suggesting he no longer has the legs, the 31-year-old took the opportunity to show he’s still got it with a double.
His first was particularly classy – stepping inside the defender, Villa cheekily dinked the ball over goalkeeper Mikel Saizar from an acute angle.
Watch the goal below:
YouTube credit: MsEquilibrium77·