Barcelona’s Turkish midfielder Arda Turan (R) celebrates after scoring during the Spanish Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) round of 32 second leg football match FC Barcelona vs Hercules CF at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on December 21, 2016 © AFP / JOSEP LAGO
MADRID, Spain, Dec 22 – Turkey international Arda Turan scored a hat-trick as holders Barcelona thrashed third-division side Hercules 7-0 in the second leg of their Copa del Rey last-32 tie.
Turan struck his second hat-trick in as many weeks — following a quickfire treble against Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Champions League a fortnight ago — as Barca eased into the last 16 following an 8-1 aggregate win.
Luis Enrique rested his formidable front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar but the floodgates opened once Lucas Digne broke the deadlock on 37 minutes at the Camp Nou.
Ivan Rakitic added a penalty before half-time with Rafinha and Paco Alcacer the others to get on the scoresheet.
Luciano Vietto and Wissam Ben Yedder also scored three goals each as last year’s beaten finalists Sevilla pummelled fourth tier Formentera 9-1 in Andalusia, completing a 14-2 victory over the two legs.
Rodrigo netted both goals for Valencia in a 2-1 win over Leganes in an all-La Liga affair, with the former progressing 5-2 on aggregate.
Eibar, Deportivo La Coruna and Osasuna also advanced to the next round.
