Barca duly took their place in the last 16 of the Spanish Cup with a 5-0 win over Cultural Leonesa. Bojan (2), Pedro, Messi and Xavi got the five second half goals to seal the tie 7-0 on aggregate.

With the two goal advantage from the first leg, the tie was not really in much doubt, but Barca made a slow start and it wasn't until the second half that they turned on the style and put five past their lowly opponents.

Focussed and serious

Guardiola sent out a new look team, but their approach was serious and focussed on avoiding any slip ups. Barca dominated possession and looked solid enough, but they were lacking some precision in the last third of the pitch.

Iniesta turns up the pace

Ferran gave the home fans a fright when he nearly intercepted a Pinto pass to Puyol, but that was just the signal for Iniesta to turn up the pace a little and in the last 15 minutes of the first half the team opened up much more and created 3 clear chances: two for Pedro and the best for Jeffren on 42 minutes.

Bojan brace finishes Leon resistance

The improvement carried over into the second half and they came out after the break clearly determined to finish off their opponents. Bojan started the goal rush on 50 minutes, latching onto a cross from Jeffren and before the Leon team could fashion an answer he was on the score sheet again, beating the keeper and firing home after good work from Jonathan.

Messi joins the party

The 26.322 fans who braved the cold and the late kick off were rewarded with a glimpse of Messi, who came on for Puyol on the hour mark and almost immediately Pedro made it three, finishing off an Iiesta invention from the left. Then Messi himself got in on the act, dancing through the visitors' defence and firing high past their keeper Calzado.

Chances come thick and fast

With the tie beyond them, Cultural went for a glory goal at the Nou Camp, but left gaping holes at the back in doing so and could have been on the end of an even more beating had Messi done better on two occasions when he was one on one with the keeper, but perhaps tried to be a little too clever. Finally, it was Xavi who made it five, heading in almost immediately after coming on on 74 minutes.
The rather downbeat first half was soon forgotten and forgiven by the fans as Barca marched into the last 16 with a convincing show of second half scoring. (less info)