Night of goals and debuts (4-0)

FC Barcelona had no problems getting through to the next round of the Copa del Rey. Rijkaard's side beat Badalona in a match that witnessed the debuts of Valiente, Crosas and Jeffren.

Two goals for Javier Saviola, one for Santi Ezquerro and another for Gio and a job well done against a Badalona side that had everything to win and nothing whatsoever to lose. Following the 2-1 win in the first leg, Frank Rijkaard was evidently more interested in the league, and fielded several players that don't usually get to start, and tried Andrés Iniesta in a central playmaking role. The was slow to get going, but eventually picked up, with Barça finding ways through a Badalona defence that has done itself proud over the two legs of this encounter. Reserve players Marc Valiente, Marc Crosas and Jeffren made their first team debuts in this unusual Catalan derby.

Chance come at last

After a quiet first quarter of an hour, the action picked up. Jorquera was given a wake-up call by Blanco following a clever move by Badalona down the left. This was the warning Barça needed. Qualification was anything but a done deal. Not that Badalona created an awful lot of danger, but up to this point, Barcelona hadn't exactly been creating much of their own much either.

Andrés Iniesta and Thiago Motta held the team together, along with Gio, playing his first game since injury. And it was the Dutchman who opened the scoring in his second encroachment on the visiting goal. In the first, Saviola had sent his pass sky-high, although to his credit, it had landed on his weaker right foot. The goal came seven minutes later. Santi Ezquerro, in a rare start for Frank Rijkaard, laid on a pinpoint pass to Belletti who left the ball dead for Gio to slot the ball home past Relaño (1-0).

Ezquerro on song

Santi Ezquerro got plenty of chances to shine in the first half, and got his name on the score sheet when culminating a terrific team move that had started with a convincing Thuram drive up the left, finding Sylvinho's chest who brought the ball down for Gio to lob in a floating cross, well out of reach of Relaño but perfectly placed for Esquerro to nod home from the far post.

Debuts for Valiente and Crosas

With the result settled, Frank Rijkaard brought on reserve team player Marc Valiente for Juliano Belletti and the youngster slotted in alongside Lillian Thuram. Oleguer was moved across to right back and Sylvinho stayed on the left.

The pace eased off, with a couple of deft moves from Ezquerro and a possible penalty on Saviola the only highlights. Whereupon Iniesta, to much applause, was taken off and the promising young Marc Crosas was handed a debut. Crosas, a cousin of Albert Jorquera's, and with just his second touch of the ball, found himself involved in the move that led to Saviola adding Barça's third of the night (3-0, min. 78).

Saviola goal and injury

Crosas continued making an impact, and set up another move moments later when sending a through ball into the path of Oleguer. Relaño came out to meet the oncoming player, who deftly knocked the ball back to Saviola to slot it into an empty net. The Argentinian took a knock to his ankle in the closing minutes of the game, and rather than take any risks, Rijkaard replaced him with Jeffren in the 84th minute.

Cup season starts at Camp Nou

The first Cup match of the season will be played tonight at the Camp Nou. Barça will have to continue the good work of their 2-1 win away to Badalona in the first leg.

Second division B side Badalona will be the first visitors to the Camp Nou in Barça's 2006-07 Cup campaign (22:00, Barça TV). A place in the last sixteen is the prize as the Camp Nou witnesses its fourth tournament of the year following the League, Champions league and Spanish Super Cup. In theory, Barcelona are by far the better side, but tonight they are going to have to prove that on the pitch.

Barça: Frank Rijkaard will rest some of his first team regulars tonight, including Ronaldinho, Deco, Márquez, Edmílson, Puyol, Messi and Zambrotta. Apart from the Italian, who is on special leave, the other players will instead be training at La Masia . With so many key players absent, several youngsters will instead get their chance to experience first team football, namely Crosas, Valiente, Jeffren and Víctor Vázquez. 12 first team players have also been included in the squad whose task is to make use of the advantage established by Gudjohnsen's two goals a fortnight ago.

Badalona: The club managed by former Espanyol and Sevilla man Francisco are keen to put on a good show at the Camp Nou. They will be missing four key players through injury, Javier Lezaun, Alejandro Traversa, Alain González and Roberto Encinas. Players that could appear tonight include a few products of the Barça youth set-up, including striker David Prats, and veteran Monty, who previously played for Mataró and Terrassa.

Previous meetings: Badalona are the sixth Second Division B team to appear at the Camp Nou in recent years. Befoe them have come Benidorm (98-99), Almería (99-00), Ourense (99-00), Torrelavega (00-01) and Zamora last season. Three of these games ended in Barça wins, while two were drawn.