Villanovense 0-0 Barcelona: Barca held by minnows in Copa del Rey

A much-changed Barcelona side were held to a goalless draw in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-32 clash against Segunda B side Villanovense.

There was a youthful look to the Barca side as they set about defending their trophy.

Though they dominated possession - 75 per cent to 25 - and mustered 14 chances, poor finishing meant they had to settle for a stalemate.

Villanovense did not look too intimidated as they started brightly, with Pablo Moraga firing narrowly wide before Casi saw his shot blocked.

It took until the 17th minute for Barcelona to mount a meaningful attack, but Douglas' shot from the outside of the area was blocked, while Gerard Gumbau's follow-up went wide.

The hosts responded by going back to the other end where Elias saw his lot shot saved by Jordi Masip in the Barcelona goal.

Munir El Haddi's shot flew over just after the half-hour mark before Curro headed wide for Villanovense after getting on to the end of Elias' cross.

The goalkeepers remained untroubled as Marc Bartra headed wide for Barca and Casi fired another shot left of the goal at the other end.

Barca gently probed early in the second half, but still struggled to test the goalkeeper. Jeremy Mathieu fired narrowly wide in the 52nd minute while an ambitious effort from Bartra, 40 yards from goal, sailed wide of the post.

As the game moved past the hour mark, Sandro Ramirez sent a shot over before, moments later, seeing a shot well saved by Jose Fuentes low to his left.

Barca continued to dominate as the second half progressed, but were doing little to make it count as El Haddadi had a shot blocked.

It was not until the 79th minute that Villanovense were able to create something, but Pajuelo's left-footed shot was closer than anything Barca had come up with as it whistled just wide of the post.

With time running out, Bartra saw his header saved before Thomas Vermaelen nodded wide.

Fuentes then came up with another save to deny Aitor Cantalapiedra with two minutes to go and it was clear there would be no breakthrough on the night.