Barcelona kick off Copa del Rey against Linares

Barcelona will once again have only a limited number of players available

The Copa del Rey is the tournament in which Barcelona has found the most success as the Catalan side has won it five out of the last seven seasons. In total, they’ve won the competition a league-high 31 times.

They won it last season under Ronald Koeman when they beat Athletic Bilbao.

They begin their defense on the road against Linares where, once again, Xavi faces a selection headache given the number of absences. Jordi Alba tested negative for Covid-19 and should be available. Dani Alves has also tested negative but has yet to be registered.

According to Sport, Alves’ registration is only a matter of time. Furthermore, the squad list won’t be made available until the day of the game as the rest of the players are still undergoing PCR tests after Ferran Torres and Pedri testing positive.

Luuk de Jong, who scored the winner in Sunday’s league match against Mallorca, won’t be available as he will be serving a suspension he picked up last season while he was with Sevilla.

In other words, Barcelona will be without a striker for the game, meaning Alba may be used further up as a winger to help out the attack.

There is a sort of precedent between these two sides as Barça B play in the same division as Linares. The ‘B’ team beat Linares 2-1 in October.

Barcelona should be wary of underestimating the third division side as the format follows the one from last season in that it’s a single elimination tie. Whoever loses is out of the competition and Barcelona struggled in a couple of matches on their way to win the title.

“Linares are a good team and will be extremely motivated for this one and have the home advantage, playing in front of their fans who will create plenty of pressure,” Xavi said. “They are a technically sound team. They position themselves well and are strong in transition.

“The Copa is obviously a target for us. Every competition that Barça compete in is always a goal for us. We’re the defending champions and we want to win the trophy again.”

Despite the absences, Xavi will rotate somewhat. Neto is likely to replace Marc-Andre ter Stegen and one of Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti may be given a start. Sergio Busquets is also back after serving a one game suspension.

Barcelona look to build from their win over Mallorca and continue the New Year on the right track. For them do so, they’re going to need to rely on their midfield to create opportunities and for young forwards like Ferran Jutgla and Ilias Akhomach to be clinical.

Teams show some respect initially before they manage to pin Barcelona back once they realize they lack an attacking threat. With the crowd in Linares’ favor, it’s something the Blaugrana cannot allow.

The Catalans are going to be the favorites heading into the match but they cannot overlook Linares as the new format does allow for more upsets and they do not want to be a casualty.

Predicted lineup:

Neto; Mingueza, Garcia, Lenglet, Araujo; Frenkie de Jong, Busquets, Riqui Puig; Ilias, Jutgla, Alba