Copa Del Rey 2019: Results, Reaction from Thursday's Round of 16, Leg 1 Games

Barcelona were stunned 2-1 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey round-of-16 showdown against Levante, who ran out victors over a much-changed Blaugrana team in Valencia. 

Erick Cabaco and Borja Mayoral—on loan from Barca's rivals Real Madrid—put the hosts two goals up after only 18 minutes. Philippe Coutinho scored from the penalty spot late onto snatch what could prove an important away goal.

Ernesto Valverde will shoulder a portion of the blame for fielding an XI featuring only a handful of regulars. Youngsters Carles Alena, 21, Juan Brandariz, 19, and Juan Miranda, 18, all started. 

Earlier on Thursday evening, a strong Sevilla side came out on top of a weakened Athletic Bilbao XI and triumphed 3-1 at San Mames, where Nolito, Andre Silva and Wissam Ben Yedder supplied the winning goals.

Elsewhere, Real Sociedad gave themselves a good chance of advancing into the quarter-finals after holding Real Betis to a 0-0 draw in Seville.

Thursday's First-Leg Results

Athletic Bilbao 1-3 Sevilla

Real Betis 0-0 Real Sociedad

Levante 2-1 Barcelona

Recap

Cabaco was the gleeful beneficiary of some woeful Barcelona defending from a set piece early on at the Estadi Ciutat de Valencia, heading in Ruben Rochina's sweetly arced free-kick.

It was typical that Real Madrid product Mayoral should be the man to double down on Barca's misery, easing Emmanuel Boateng's pass wide before cutting a fine finish into the far Jasper Cillessen's far corner. OptaJose noted he isn't the only Santiago Bernabeu alumnus to do damage to Barca this season:

Miranda and Brandariz—commonly known as Chumi—were each withdrawn by the hour mark in favour of Sergi Roberto and Clement Lenglet, respectively, while winger Malcom came off for Denis Suarez. It was Suarez who cut in off the right to win a penalty in the box for a clumsy foul, and Coutinho converted into the bottom left to halve the deficit.

La Liga's leaders ended the match pressing high for an equaliser but paid the price for their slow start and will trail heading back to the Camp Nou, albeit at least with an away goal to their name. 

Sportswriters Graham Ruthven and Muhammad Butt looked differently upon Valverde's rotation tactics:

Nolito is yet to score a goal in La Liga this season after only making three league appearances, but his record in cup competition continued a prolific trend as he ran free of his markers to supply the opener at Athletic.

Mikel San Jose equalised for Los Leones not long after the break, but Nolito set up team-mates Andre Silva and Ben Yedder to cap a man-of-the-match performance with two assists on top of his breakthrough goal:

Athletic manager Gaizka Garitano suggested with his weakened selection on Thursday that La Liga remains a priority, while Sevilla's depth in options paved a patch to victory.

The Basque outfit may struggle to mimic Sevilla's heroics at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan when the two teams clash in the return leg next Thursday, with Athletic having won only two matches on the road this season.

Betis had the majority of possession (63 per cent) and shots on goal in their bore draw at home to Real Sociedad, per Flashscore.com, but that didn't stop them going a third consecutive game without tasting victory.

Manager Quique Setien has a job on his hands in winning the two-legged tie away to Sociedad next Thursday, though it bodes well for them that La Real have lost their last two home games in a row.