Barcelona to face Valencia in Copa del Rey semifinals

Philippe Coutinho says that he is “thrilled” to have made his Barcelona debut against Espanyol on Thursday night, though admits to having some nerves before the match. Coutinho didn’t even need to come onto the field to inspire his side to victory, though the Coutinho Barcelona debut eventually happened in the 68th minute.

Facing city rivals Espanyol was a potential banana skin for Ernesto Valverde’s side, who lost last week’s first leg 1-0, but Barcelona were rarely troubled in front of a vibrant Nou Camp. Coutinho’s debut comes a less than three weeks after signing with Barcelona.

Cruyff later returned for a spell as Barcelona’s coach and he is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the club. Their attacking approach paid off too as they opened the scoring after just nine minutes as Luis Suarez nodded home Aleix Vidal’s cross from the right.

Sevilla, Valencia and Leganes – who knocked out Real Madrid on Wednesday – are the other teams in the last four.

Messi made it 2-0 on the night in the 25th minute, gathering a loose ball in the box and giving a shot that deflected off Espanyol’s Naldo and into the net.

Barcelona have confirmed that Philippe Coutinho will be assigned the No.14 jersey at Camp Nou after his stunning move from Liverpool.

According to Don Balon, Coutinho was told by Valverde that the club plan to offload winger Gerard Deulofeu before the end of the current window.

“The support of our fans is priceless and I hope it continues to be like that”.

Here, Goal takes a look at everything you need to know ahead of next Liga match at home to Alaves on Sunday.

In his cameo role, Coutinho nearly notched an assist, only for Suarez’s shot to be saved by Pau Lopez.

Javier Mascherano finally completed one of the longest farewells in world football.