Barcelona head coach Luis Enrique was pleased to see Paco Alcacer break his duck in front of goal in the Copa del Rey romp against Hercules and has no doubt the Spain striker can be a success at Camp Nou.
Alcacer endured 10 scoreless appearances for the LaLiga champions on the back of his big-money switch from Valencia in August but got in on the act as third-tier Hercules suffered a 7-0 loss and 8-1 aggregate defeat in the round-of-32-clash on Wednesday.
Arda Turan completed his hat-trick after Alcacer scored Barca’s fifth of the evening, with Lucas Digne, Ivan Rakitic and Rafinha having got the ball rolling.
“I have not felt wrong for him because these are things that happen in football, although we were all looking forward to his first goal,” Luis Enrique told a post-match news conference.
“We know him and he does not give us any doubts. I am content with the performance of Paco and for all the players.”
Luis Enrique: “We had patience to create chances and in the second half we killed the game off” #FCBlive pic.twitter.com/pDRSs1509m
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 21, 2016
An inexperienced Barca line-up fell behind during the first leg and a more senior line-up were forced to bide their time before full-back Digne broke the deadlock eight minutes before half-time in Catalonia.
“The team took the game very seriously, as it could not have done otherwise,” Luis Enrique said.
“It cost them because they have closed us down well but we had the necessary patience and good circulation [of the ball] until wearing them down to create chances.
“In the second half we killed the game off.”
Barcelona now head into the mid-season break before facing Villarreal on January 8, and their boss added: “It has been a great night to close the football year.”
Tagged with: betting news • football • footballnews • live sport channels • sport betting • sport odds • teams reviews
