体坛英语新闻：Easy away wins for Barca and Valencia in Copa del Rey

MADRID, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona strolled to a comfortable win away to Deportivo Alaves in the first leg of the third round of the Spanish Copa del Rey on Tuesday night.

Goals from David Villa and Andres Iniesta took the reigning Copa del Rey champions to victory against the third tier Basque side that is best known for its appearance in the final of the 2001 UEFA Cup.

Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova fielded a strong side with Sergio Busquets, Dani Alves and Javier Mascherano all in the Barca side along with the goalscorers.

The home side were cheered on by a full ground and made life hard for Barca until Villa opened the scoring with a good finish from an Iniesta pass.

Iniesta made the game safe five minutes into the second half and Cesc Fabrigas added a third in the last minute to make sure that the return leg in Barcelona will be contractual obligation with hardly any chance of a brave Alaves side causing an upset.

Valencia also virtually assured their progress into the last 16 with a 2-0 win away to third tier side Llagostera.

On a rain soaked artificial pitch, Valencia relied on remaining tight in defense and relied on their effectiveness from set pieces: Jonas Goncalves opened the scoring with a header from a free kick just before the break, while Nelson Valdez headed home from a corner with 22 minutes remaining.

LLagostera had a chance to get back into the game eight minutes from time, but Marc Sellares sent his spot kick against the post to make the return leg in two weeks' time virtually irrelevant.

The remained of the Copa del Rey first leg ties will be played on Wednesday and Thursday.