Barcelona kicked off their 2016-17 Copa del Rey campaign with a disappointing one-all draw against third-tier side Hercules. Granted, Barcelona were playing without their stars, but this was a team that Barcelona B beat 3-1 at this very ground three months ago. Both goals were scored in the second half. David Mainz put the hosts in the lead, while Carles Alena set the final score, scoring his first Barcelona goal in his first official Barcelona match.
Luis Enrique rested all of his usual starters, many of which didn’t even travel to Alicante, and fielded an eleven of first team backups and promising youngsters from the Barcelona B team.