Whilst it may have taken a while for Barcelona to get going, Xavi Hernandez‘s charges were able to continue their blistering form in front of goal on Saturday evening, defeating Cadiz 4-0 at the Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla.
The former Al-Sadd coach made a few surprise changes to his starting XI, with Memphis Depay coming in for Robert Lewandowski, whilst Frenkie de Jong joined Sergio Busquets at the heart of midfield.
There was a senior Barcelona debut for Hector Bellerin, and in the end the match was a rather routine one for the Catalan giants.
Chances in the first-half came at a premium, although Raphinha curled a beautifully struck shot into the post after just 10 minutes of play.
This was symptomatic of the lack of good fortune Los Cules had in front of goal in the first-half, with the Brazilian winger then blazing over the crossbar from close range.
Cadiz‘s defensive performance was almost rewarded in the 53rd minute of play, when Fede San Emeterio was first onto a rebound inside the penalty area, but again he fired his effort into the stands.
After a summer of speculation Frenkie de Jong has finally been able to concentrate on his football and he immediately made the hosts pay for the San Emeterio‘s profligacy just minutes earlier.
The Dutch midfielder saw a blocked shot break in his direction inside the penalty area and he placed the ball into the middle of the net, handing the Blaugrana the lead.
Lewandowski was introduced and made a quick impact, adding a second goal of the game for the visitors with a tap-in from close range.
The match was then interrupted due to a medical emergency in the crowd, with Jeremias Ledesma carrying a defibrillator towards the stricken supporter.
Once the match resumed Barcelona were able to score twice more, the first coming when Lewandowski found Ansu Fati with a clever pass inside the penalty area, with the youngster coolly converting from close-range.
The fourth goal arrived in injury time and it was Ousmane Dembele who rounded off the evening with a quite sumptuous individual effort.
The French winger weaved like a slalom skier in between defenders before pulling the trigger on a curling shot from the edge of the box.
A deflection on its way towards goal sent it beyond Ledesma and cemented a strong win for Los Cules.
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