Barcelona Beat Espanyol 2-1 at 2018 Spanish Copa Del Rey; Lionel Messi Scores

Barcelona took their spot in the semi-finals of this season's Copa del Rey after overturning a 1-0 first-leg deficit to beat derby opponents Espanyol 2-1 on aggregate following Thursday's 2-0 triumph at the Camp Nou.

Philippe Coutinho made his Barcelona debut off the bench on a night where Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi's first-half goals proved sufficient for La Liga's leaders to move into the Copa's last four.

Barca were the last team to secure their place in the semi-finals and will find out their foe in Friday's Copa del Rey draw at 12 p.m. GMT (7 a.m. ET), with Valencia, Sevilla and Leganes still in the hunt for silverware.

January signings Coutinho and Yerry Mina both started on the bench for Barca in anticipation of their debuts, while Jasper Cillessen took his spot between the posts in place of Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The Camp Nou also paid tribute to departing veteran Javier Mascherano on Thursday evening as he prepares to join Chinese Super League outfit Hebei China Fortune, per BBC Sport:

It quickly became clear that with a one-goal deficit running against them, Barca were motivated to not repeat the calamitous error of Real Madrid, who fell out of the Copa del Rey at the hands of Leganes on Wednesday.

The hosts swiftly tightened their usual grip on possession and were making moves to find the dynamic duo of Messi and Suarez up top, with the latter firing in the opener after only nine minutes on Thursday.

Aleix Vidal started against Espanyol in the first leg and repaid manager Ernesto Valverde this time around by lopping in an inch-perfect cross for Suarez to head home.

The Uruguayan cushioned the breakthrough inside the left post to level the fixture up on aggregate, as the Daily Mirror showed Espanyol defender Naldo was nowhere near keeping the first out:

The job was only halfway done, sitting on level terms, however, and who else but Messi would slot in Barcelona's vital second?

He dipped in off the right flank with the ball at his feet, dummying his way through defenders on the edge of the box before his deflected effort found its way past Espanyol goalkeeper Pau Lopez, improving an already prolific record against this foe, per Goal:

The Blaugrana accounted for 73 percent of possession in the first half, per Flashscore.com, and that domination only rose after half-time, with the home outfit seemingly settled in seeing out their advantage.

The Camp Nou crowd were given further reason to cheer, however, when Valverde handed Coutinho his Barcelona debut with a little more than 20 minutes left to showcase his talent:

Coutinho should have had his first assist in Blaugrana colours after threading Suarez through for a simple-looking third goal of the night, but his shot was straight into the arms of keeper Pau.

Messi also came within centimetres of sealing the result late on but could only thwack his header off the post as Barca settled for a slim win.

Valverde will be pleased with a successful night's work as Barcelona's first-team big guns provided the necessary result to advance, as well as Coutinho making his first appearance as a Barcelona player.

Their Copa del Rey title defence continues, and Barca will be back at the Camp Nou in La Liga on Sunday when they play host to Alaves.