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SIX OF THE BEST FOR BARCA

SIX OF THE BEST FOR BARCA

Messi scores for Barcelona against Hibs.

Hibernian's dented confidence was dealt another blow when they were beaten 6-0 by a rampant Barcelona in Thursday's friendly at Murrayfield.

While Josep Guardiola cruised to victory in his first game as Barca boss, Hibs counterpart Mixu Paatelainen was left facing the prospect of lifting his players for a second time with the start of the new season still several weeks away.

A 4-0 aggregate defeat to Swedish outfit Elfsborg saw the Edinburgh side crash out of the Intertoto Cup earlier this month - and on Thursday Barca racked up as many goals in the opening 26 minutes.

An Eidur Gudjohnsen double and goals from Lionel Messi and Pedro in the first half were followed by further breakthroughs from Bojan and Yaya Toure after the break as Hibs were outclassed.

Daniel Alves and Gerard Pique made their debuts for Barcelona from the start, while fellow summer signings Martin Caceres, Alexander Hleb and Seydou Keita started on the bench.

Dimitar Berbatov played the full 90 minutes of Tottenham's 1-1 draw against Spanish second division side Hercules, but there was not even a place on the bench for Robbie Keane.

While Spurs' star strike duo continue to be the subject of intense transfer speculation, Darren Bent took the chance to show Juande Ramos his worth by levelling the scores from an Aaron Lennon corner after Addison had given the hosts an early lead.

Middlesbrough slumped to a late 1-0 pre-season defeat to Vitoria Guimaraes in the Algarve Challenge Cup.

Vitoria struck in the final minutes of the match as Dinis curled a free-kick past helpless Boro goalkeeper Ross Turnbull.

Leroy Lita ran riot as Reading cruised to a 4-1 victory over Swedish side Trollhatten.

The Royals could not break down Trollhatten's defence in the first half but Lita was in superb form after the break as he scored all four of his side's goals, while Martin Scherdin netted for the home team.

On a night for goalscoring heroics, Bristol Rovers forward Josh Klein-Davies emulated Lita and fired his team to a 4-0 success against MABI in Malmo.

Aberdeen opened their tour of Holland with a convincing 5-0 win against DZC 68.

Chris Maguire was the star for the Dons with a first-half hat-trick (13, 22 and 39), while Lee Miller (43) and Jamie Smith (75) also struck.

Elsewhere, Leicester were involved in a 12-goal thriller as they defeated Unibond Division One South outfit Quorn 8-4.

A Sheffield United XI beat local rivals Sheffield 4-0, while Ipswich thumped Tiptree 5-0

Kaizer Chiefs saw off Orlando Pirates 2-0 in the Vodacom Challenge to set up a final clash with Manchester United.