Ansu Fati scored in extra time to give Barcelona thrilling 4-3 victory

• Barcelona beat Intercity 4-3 in the Spanish Cup.
• Ansu Fati and Oriol Soldevila score extra-time goals.
• Jorge Sampaoli’s struggling La Liga side defeat Linares 5-0.

Ansu Fati scored in extra time to give Barcelona a thrilling 4-3 victory against third-tier Intercity in the Spanish Cup round of 32 on Wednesday.

Former La Masia youth player Oriol Soldevila scored a magnificent hat-trick to force extra-time, before Fati’s deflected shot settled the tie.

Ronald Araujo headed home after only four minutes from Pablo Torre’s corner, giving Barcelona the appearance of cruising into the last 16.

The Uruguayan defender made a spirited comeback from a thigh injury that hindered him from starting for his side at the World Cup, also clearing an effort off the line.

For Intercity, Soldevila scored an unexpected equaliser after the ball was headed into his path from a corner kick, after Ferran Torres and Ousmane Dembele had missed good opportunities for the visitors.

When Dembele was sent through in the 66th minute, he completed a superb chip to put Barcelona back in lead.

Intercity levelled again as Soldevila beat Inaki Pena with a wonderful header, but Raphinha stroked home Jordi Alba’s low cross to restore Barcelona’s lead.

After a mistake by Marcos Alonso resulted in extra time, Soldevila finished off an incredible hat trick against his former team.

Substitute Fati came near early in the extra session before putting Barcelona ahead with a deflected drive that looped home in the 104th minute, and it proved pivotal.

“It was the charm of the cup,” Araujo explained to Movistar.

“It will be useful for us to learn from, the cup is like this, we know it.”

Elsewhere Atletico Madrid won 2-0 at second-tier Real Oviedo, thanks to goals from Marcos Llorente and bright youngster Pablo Barrios, while Sevilla also won big.

Jorge Sampaoli’s struggling La Liga side defeated Linares 5-0, with Moroccan World Cup hero Youssef En-Nesyri scoring a hat-trick.

Mateu Lahoz’s controversial refereeing in Barcelona’s La Liga stalemate with Espanyol on Saturday made headlines, and he continued in the same vein by sending off Sampaoli for dissent early in the first half.

Alaves won 1-0 over Real Valladolid in La Liga, despite having Zouhair Feddal sent off in the first half.

Both Real Mallorca and Real Sociedad advanced to the round of 16, with Real Mallorca beating Pontevedra 2-0 in overtime and Real Sociedad beating UD Logrones 1-0.

Also Read

Spain: Believes in youth, adheres to style, but needs goals

Spain team announced by coach Luis Enrique late on Friday Pedri, Gavi,...