Hercules 1 Barcelona 1: Teen Carles Alena spares Luis Enrique’s blushes in Copa del Rey ahead of El Clasico weekend

YOU only had to look at Barcelona’s Copa del Rey line-up to know that it’s El Clasico this weekend.

Luis Enrique made 11 changes to the side for the first leg of their last-32 tie against Hercules on Wednesday evening.

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And it took a terrific strike from debutant Carles Alena to spare the manager’s blushes as his side mustered an uninspiring 1-1 draw at the Estadio Jose Rico Perez in Alicante.

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Hercules took the lead after 52 minutes when David Mainz bundled the ball past Jasper Cillessen.

But Alena made sure his side weren’t behind for long when he smashed one into the back of the net just six minutes later.

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The likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar were left at home as Enrique prepared for the crunch clash against Real Madrid on Saturday.

Paco Alcacer was handed a rare start in attack but the summer signing once again failed to find the target.

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Unhappy winger Aleix Vidal was also included in the starting XI, as was Denis Suarez.

But they were all shown up by 18-year-old Alena, who will now be hoping to force his way into Enrique’s future first-team plans.